Multitude reported Q3'26 adj. net profit of € 8.3m, up 15% yoy and 4% above eNuW. While interest income was softer than our expectations (-5.6% vs eNuW), better cost control more than offset the shortfall.
Revenue grew 12% yoy to € 70.2m (eNuW: € 73.8m). Interest income was flat yoy at € 58.4m (eNuW: € 61.8m), but grew sequentially for a third quarter in a row, which signals that the drag from the microloan exits is mostly over. In Consumer Banking, interest income grew 1.9% qoq to € 42.0m, while the loan book grew 5% qoq, its strongest quarter in two years, which supports a higher run-rate in Q4. SME Banking stayed flat at € 9.0m, with the loan book unchanged since Q1, as CapitalBox prioritises profitability over volume amid a difficult macro backdrop. Wholesale Banking rose 30% yoy to € 7.4m (eNuW: € 8.5m). The mix continued to move from debt investments to direct lending, with direct loans up c. 15% qoq.
Revenue was lifted by fee and commission income, which tripled and was in line with our expectations at € 11.9m (eNuW: € 12.0m), supported by the strong performance of the now fully consolidated Sortter. The latter contributed € 7.1m (eNuW: € 6m), meaning fee and commission income excluding Sortter grew c. 20%.
Net operating income excl. fair value and FX effects reached € 58.5m (eNuW: € 60.6m). The headline figure of € 59.7m includes € 1.1m of fair value and FX gains, driven by a € 1.7m revaluation of the earn-out from the 2025 divestments and partly offset by € 0.6m of FX headwinds, which we treat as non-recurring.
Impairments fell 15% yoy to € 16.2m, in line with our € 16.4m. The annualised cost of risk dropped to 6.5% from 8.8% a year earlier, as Consumer Banking's cost of risk fell to 9.8% from 12.5% and as the lower-risk Wholesale book gained weight.
Opex excl. impairments rose 25% yoy to € 32.6m on the consolidation of Sortter, but came in 7% below our € 35.1m. Personnel expense drove most of the saving, falling to € 8.9m from € 10.6m in Q2 as Multitude cut headcount through process improvements and automation. The cost-to-income ratio was 54.7% (eNuW: 57.7%).
On the bottom line, adj. EBT grew 17% yoy to € 9.7m (eNuW: € 9.1m), and adj. net profit reached € 8.3m (eNuW: € 7.9m). Multitude confirmed its FY26 net profit guidance of € 30m, which requires only € 7.7m in Q4.
The € 50m AT1 that settles on 13 November costs c. € 6m a year at 3M EURIBOR + 9.00%, which lifts distributions on perpetuals to € 13.3m a year (eNuW). While this reduces earnings attributable to shareholders, it lifts capital headroom to support c. € 250-300m of incremental loans, which we see mostly deployed in Wholesale Banking but also in Consumer Banking.
As we include the AT1 in our model, we raise impairments in absolute terms on the larger loan book, while the cost of risk keeps falling, in line with Multitude's track record. Further, we lower our FY26 Consumer Banking estimates, as the recovery in interest income takes longer than expected. We lower our FY26 net profit estimate to € 30.8m (was € 31.3m), which remains above guidance.
We keep our BUY rating but lower our PT to € 11 (old: € 12), based on our residual income model.
ISIN: CH1398992755