GRENKE starts year with a strong Contribution Margin 2 in Q1 2024

• New leasing business increases 9.8% to EUR 669.8 million (Q1 2023: EUR 610.2 million)
• Contribution margin 2 (CM2) expands 10.4% to EUR 112.7 million (Q1 2023: EUR 102.0 million)
• CM2 margin reaches 16.8% (Q1 2023: 16.7%)

Baden-Baden, April 4, 2024: GRENKE AG, a global financing partner for small and medium-sized enterprises, increased its new leasing business by 9.8% to EUR 669.8 million in the first quarter of 2024 (Q1 2023: EUR 610.2 million), in a continuation of its growth trend.

The contribution margin 2 (CM2) – an indicator of new business profitability – increased 10.4% to EUR 112.7 million (Q1 2023: EUR 102.0 million). As a result, GRENKE increased its CM2 margin to 16.8% (Q1 2023: 16.7%) and thereby achieved its medium-term target of around 17%. This increase was a result of GRENKE’s ability to successfully pass on the higher refinancing costs.

Dr Sebastian Hirsch, CEO of GRENKE AG. “The high profitability of our new leasing business, featuring close to double-digit growth, is an excellent result. This has given us a solid start to the year. In view of the stable demand conditions and our broad international market presence we are well on the way to achieving our ambitious targets for the current financial year.”  

Increase in green economy objects - continuous expansion in the reseller network

After registering strong growth in previous quarters, green economy objects continued to increase their share in Q1 2024 compared to the same quarter in the previous year. Green economy objects in Q1 2024 accounted for approximately 12% of new leasing contracts (Q1 2023: 11%), with growth mainly driven by eBikes, solar systems and wall boxes. The reseller network was also expanded to over 36k resellers (Q1 2023: 34k). Due to the strong business with reseller partners, the share of business with direct customers declined slightly to 15.5% of new leasing business (Q1 2023: 16.9%).

Western Europe is strongest region ahead of Southern Europe

Western Europe (without DACH) was the strongest region, with growth of 15.8% to EUR 187.4 million (Q1 2023: EUR 161.8 million) and a 28.0% share of new leasing business. Of this, France accounted for the largest share of new leasing business, representing 21.5%. The Southern Europe region came in second place with growth of 11.3% to EUR 167.3 million (Q1 2023: EUR 150.4 million). This was followed by the DACH region in third place with a slight year-on-year decline of 3.1% for new leasing volume of EUR 138.6 million (Q1 2023: EUR 143.1 million). The Northern/Eastern Europe region recorded growth of 9.3% with a volume of EUR 135.0 million (Q1 2023: EUR 123.4 million). Sweden and Denmark performed particularly well, with GRENKE increasing new business in the first quarter of 2024 in those countries by 30.5% and 38.6%, respectively. Other regions grew 31.8% and achieved the strongest growth, recording new business of EUR 41.5 million (Q1 2023: EUR 31.5 million). The “Other regions” leasing region includes the future markets of the USA, Canada and Australia.

High demand

Leasing as a tool to finance investments and optimise liquidity continues to be an international trend, and GRENKE continues to register growing demand. In the first quarter of 2024, GRENKE received around 160k lease applications (Q1 2023: around 152k) and concluded around 72k new lease contracts (Q1 2023: around 69k). The conversion rate was stable at 45.3% compared to the same quarter of the previous year (Q1 2023: 45.6%). The average ticket size increased slightly to EUR 9,242 (Q1 2023: EUR 8,782).

Factoring business grows; GRENKE Bank remains an important pillar of refinancing

The factoring business currently held for sale achieved growth of 10.9% in the reporting period, equal to new business volume of EUR 212.9 million (Q1 2023: EUR 192.0 million).

GRENKE Bank’s new lending business, which largely consists of the microcredit business, totalled EUR 8.7 million in the first quarter of 2024 (Q1 2023: EUR 12.8 million). As of March 31, 2024, the deposit business amounted to EUR 1,690 million, corresponding to an increase of 4.5% since the turn of the year (December 31, 2023: EUR 1,617 million).

OVERVIEW OF NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT (IN EUR MILLIONS)

Leasing regions: DACH: Austria, Germany, Switzerland
Western Europe without DACH: Belgium, France, Luxembourg, Netherlands
Southern Europe: Croatia, Italy, Malta, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain
Northern | Eastern Europe: Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Latvia, Norway, Sweden, UK | Czechia, Hungary, Poland, Romania, Slovakia
Other regions: Australia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Singapore*, Turkey*, UAE, USA
*New leasing business was discontinued in 2023.

Factoring regions: DACH: Germany, Switzerland
Northern | Eastern Europe: Hungary, Ireland, Poland, UK
Southern Europe: Italy, Portugal
GRENKE announced its intention to sell the factoring companies on January 31, 2024.

A short interview with Dr Martin Paal, Chief Financial Officer as of July 1, 2024, providing an update on new business can be accessed at https://youtu.be/Slc_ljVLHLQ.

The report for the first quarter of 2024 will be published on May 15, 2024.