Surprisingly good quarter
At Commerzbank the confidence is growing
Commerzbank has been defending itself against the desires of Unicredit since autumn. The shareholders should keep increasing profits and higher distributions. In 2025 things are going better than expected.
Commerzbank is screwing up its winning goal for 2025 in the defense against the Italian UniCredit and emphasizes its independence. The situation with the Unicredit is “not ideal,” said Commerzbank boss Bettina Orlopp on Wednesday in a conference call, after all, the Milan Institute is not only a normal investor, but also a competitor. In addition, every message, every comment, always causes unrest.
However, this does not change the strategy of the Frankfurt Dax Group, for shareholders, customers and employees. “We do this very successfully and we plan to continue in the next quarters,” said Orlopp.
Growing confidence for 2025
After a surprisingly good second quarter, Orlopp for 2025 now expects an annual profit of around 2.5 billion euros. That is 100 million euros more than previously expected. The main reason is higher interest income – despite the sunken key interest rates of the European Central Bank (ECB).
In 2024, Commerzbank had achieved a record gain of almost 2.7 billion euros. Nevertheless, the bank will cut around 3,900 full -time positions, 3,300 of them in Germany by the end of 2027. Because the Polish daughter Mbank and low -wage locations in Asia are also created, the staff in the group should remain largely constant at 36,700 full -time forces worldwide.
The dismantling of more expensive positions is intended to make Commerzbank earn more money in the next few years – and its shareholders will remain true to it instead of selling shares in the UniCredit.
Record numbers in the first half of the year
Commerzbank boss Orlopp said to be very satisfied with the interim balance: “In the first half of the year we achieved the best operational result in the history of Commerzbank.” With this key figure of around 2.4 billion euros, however, the costs for the dismantling of thousands of jobs are excluded. In the first half of the year, Commerzbank posted loads of a good half a billion euros, the lion’s share of 493 million in the second quarter.
Therefore, it is not surprising that the bank deserved less than a year earlier in April to June. With 462 million euros, the surplus was 14 percent lower than in the previous year. However, analysts had expected a significantly stronger decline.
Management board screws goals upwards
The unexpectedly high income was that things were going better. In the second quarter, the bank’s earnings increased by 13.2 percent to a good 3 billion euros in the second quarter. The interest surplus shrank by less than 1 percent to just under 2.1 billion euros. The commission surplus increased more than expected: 10.3 percent to a good 1 billion euros.
The Commerzbank board also expects higher income in the whole year. The interest surplus is now to reach around 8 billion euros, and 200 million more than before. The commission surplus – for example from securities, credit and foreign exchange transactions – is expected to grow by around 7 percent to just under 3.9 billion euros.
Desizations from Milan
Since September, the Frankfurt Money House has been defending itself against the Unicredit takeover. With a good 20 percent, the major Italian bank is now the largest shareholder in Commerzbank and has access to just under 10 percent of the shares over derivatives.
Unicredit boss Andrea Orcel would like to incorporate Commerzbank. However, the leadership of Germany’s second largest listed money house and the works council defend themselves against the desires from Milan with the support of the federal government. As the second largest shareholder, the federal government does not want to give up its remaining Commerzbank participation of a good 12 percent.
Orlopp: Unicredit has “gone quite far”
In contrast to the beginning of 2019, when Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank, the UniCredit could have no informal conversations of both institutions with a white sheet of paper on the table, emphasized Orlopp: “We have the situation that one has already gone quite far and has built up clear shares.”
Therefore, the Commerzbank repeatedly said that “of course we also expect suggestions what the other would imagine. And we have always said that we would then check these suggestions absolutely open to results,” said Orlopp. Nothing has changed. From a share share of 30 percent, Unicredit would be obliged to make the other Commerzbank shareholders an official takeover offer.
Rising profits and higher distributions
Commerzbank boss Orlopp had already set up her return goals for the coming years and attracts shareholders with higher distributions. For the financial year 2024, the Frankfurt Institute, according to the information, gave back 1.73 billion euros to its shareholders. “We have already submitted the application for our next share buyback over up to one billion euros to the European Central Bank and the Finance Agency,” said Orlopp.
dpa
Source: Stern
