February was an active month for LHV with good results which were most influenced by the continuously high level of interest income.
The consolidated volume of deposits of AS LHV Group increased by EUR 93 million in February, with term deposits by 81 EUR million, and demand deposits by EUR 12 million. The consolidated loan portfolio increased by EUR 9 million in February. While retail loans increased by EUR 12 million, corporate loans declined by EUR 3 million. The volume of funds managed by LHV grew by EUR 18 million in February. The number of payments made by financial intermediaries was 5.6 million.
In February, AS LHV Group earned EUR 13.6 million in consolidated net profit. AS LHV Pank made a net profit of EUR 13.1 million, LHV Bank Ltd EUR 375 thousand, AS LHV Varahaldus EUR 133 thousand and AS LHV Kindlustus EUR 21 thousand in February.
The number of LHV Pank clients grew by 3600, and other business volumes also increased. EUR 32 million of the total EUR 44 million deposit growth originated from regular clients. LHV Pank's loan portfolio increased by EUR 5 million on account of the good performance of retail loans. The credit quality remained at the same level, resulting in lower-than-planned write-downs of loans.
February was an active time for client communication, as the declaration of personal income tax started and a campaign to compensate home loan clients for the costs of transferring loans was ongoing. In addition to the users of the investment account system, LHV also made the transfer of investment income to the tax return automatic to users of the regular account system. Home loan clients actively submitted refinancing applications. LHV Pank added the option of unlocking bank card PIN codes to the mobile app and internet bank.
The priority of LHV Bank Ltd was to grow the loan portfolio: the portfolio increased by EUR 4 million; however, the bank approved projects amounting to EUR 35 million. In order to expand the sales, the number of loan brokers will be increased. The deposits of LHV Bank increased by EUR 15 million.
In February, for clients the fees of LHV's largest actively managed pension funds decreased. The return of the biggest actively managed funds at the beginning of the year has been more modest than expected. Income and expenses from asset management have been in line with the financial plan; however, the net profit as well as the fund volume have been affected by the lower-than-expected performance of funds. In February, applications continued to be received to increase the contributions to the 2nd pillar; more than 3000 pension savers expressed their wish in a month.
For LHV Kindlustus, February was a month of stable performance - 11,700 new insurance contracts worth EUR 2.9 million were taken out. Net premiums earned were down 4% month-on-month, while expenses fell as well. Loss events were compensated in the amount of EUR 1.6 million and 7750 new loss events were registered.
At the beginning of the month, CV-Online declared LHV the best employer in Estonia and the survey company DIVE determined the service quality of LHV Pank as being the best among Estonian banks. Pursuant to the survey conducted by Kantar Emor in February, the LHV brand has a strong position in the Estonian banking market. 95% of people in Estonia know LHV and the brand's net promoter score is at a high level of +74.
LHV Group outperforms the new financial plan published in February by EUR 5.3 million in terms of net profit. The financial plan remains unchanged. The return on equity attributable to the shareholders of LHV was 29.9% in February.
AS LHV Group's reports are available at: https://investor.lhv.ee/en/reports.
LHV Group is the largest domestic financial group and capital provider in Estonia. LHV Group's key subsidiaries are LHV Pank, LHV Varahaldus, LHV Kindlustus, and LHV Bank Limited. The Group employs over 1080 people. As at the end of February, LHV's banking services are being used by 424,000 clients, the pension funds managed by LHV have 121,000 active clients, and LHV Kindlustus protects a total of 164,000 clients. LHV Bank Limited, a subsidiary of the Group, holds a banking licence in the UK and provides banking services to international financial technology companies, as well as loans to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Priit Rum
Communications Manager
Phone: +372 502 0786
E-mail: priit.rum@lhv.ee
