Sella Group: positive results at 30 September 2024 as the growth strategy continues
The Board of Directors of the parent company Banca Sella Holding today approved the consolidated results at 30 September 2024, which confirm the positive trend of the sustainable growth path of the Group, in line with the targeted development objectives. The positive trend concerned all business areas, highlighting their ongoing strengthening and confirming the effectiveness of the strategy based on a broad diversification of revenue sources (read the full Press Release).
The “Make an Impact” strategic plan, launched at the beginning of the year is continuing, and is aimed at achieving measurable impact targets so that the Group is recognized for the quality of the services and consultancy it offers, as well as its ability to generate a positive impact socially, economically, environmentally and locally.
Group consolidated net profit was €124.1 million (+2.4% compared to September 2023, without taking into account the non-recurring component resulting from the strategic partnership with the Sesa Group). ROE stood at 11.2%, reflecting the good performance of margins, which benefited from a dynamic business activity also in the third quarter of the year, usually characterized by seasonal issues, and despite the ongoing uncertain and complex international macroeconomic context.
The intermediation margin reached €798.6 million, recording a 6.9% increase over September 2023.
Lending volumes continued to grow, reaching €11.5 billion (up 5.3% from September 2023), in contrast to the downturn that has affected the sector. In a particularly complex market setting, the Group lent €2.4 billion in the first nine months of the year, while keeping a rigorous focus on the quality of lending by implementing traditional prudential policies. This result shows the Group's standing as a sound point of reference for households and businesses and its ability to provide clear and timely answers to customers' financing needs (there were 106,000 new customers in the last twelve months, 173,000 when including customers of the fintech Hype held in a 50/50 joint venture with illimity).
Global deposits grew steadily reaching €63.2 billion (+19.2% compared to September 2023) with positive global net inflows amounting to €4.9 billion since the beginning of the year, including €1.5 billion in assets under management. Thanks to these results, the Group has confirmed its position among the top institutions in Italy in the area of deposits and asset management.
In the payment systems segment, the Group also recorded further expansion. Acquiring (POS and e-commerce) and issuing services show a 10% increase compared to September 2023.
The performance of the Group's main companies
Banca Sella's results
Banca Sella closed the first nine months of 2024 reporting positive results. The net profit was €130.4 million, slightly down from €132.5 million in the same period last year (-1.6%). The comparison would be positive (+4%) if the effects of bringing forward the contribution to the resolution funds deriving from the different accrual bases of the quotas paid in compared to the previous year were excluded (€3 million to SRF accounted for in the first half of 2023, a contribution not due in the current financial year, compared to €14.2 million to DGS in 2024, a quota required in June instead of December by the Interbank Deposit Protection Fund). The Bank’s ROE stood at 18% (it was 20.7% in September 2023). The traditional solidity of capital was further strengthened, with CET1 at 19.76% and Total Capital Ratio at 21.62% (they were 19.31% and 21.64% respectively in September 2023).
Liquidity ratios were also very positive, standing well above the required thresholds: the LCR was 262.7%, while the NSFR was 161.1% (they were 260.40% and 156.30% in September 2023, for both, the minimum required thresholds are 100%). Following the notifications received from the Bank of Italy, as of 1 January 2027 Banca Sella is expected to comply with a minimum requirement of own funds and eligible liabilities in case of “MREL” resolution equal to 18.50%, including capital reserves. The three-year funding plan provided for, totally respected in 2024, allows for full achievement of this target.
The solidity of the lending quality ratios has been confirmed and the cost of credit risk stood at 22 bps (it was 19 bps at September 2023 and 26 bps at the end of 2023). The net NPL Ratio is down to 1.4% (it was 1.6% in September 2023 and 1.5% at the end of 2023) and the gross NPL Ratio to 2.5% (it was 2.7% both in September 2023 and at the end of 2023). The Texas Ratio improved to 21% (it was 24.2% in September 2023 and 23.7% at the end of 2023).
Global deposits at market value stood at €38.3 billion, up 13.2% compared to September 2023 and 8.2% compared to the end of last year. Global net deposits in the first nine months of the year were positive at €2 billion, driven by the growth of indirect deposits. In the same period, lending to support household and corporate activities reached €9.6 billion, up 3.7% compared to September 2023 and 2.1% since the start of the year.
Growth in intermediation margin (+7.5% compared to September 2023 to €513.2 million) thanks to an increase in interest margin (+9.4% to €315.6 million) and net service revenues (+1.1% at €187 million). The latter would show a greater increase (+2.3%) if the refunds paid by the Bank to customers following the IT disruption which occurred in April were excluded.
Net income from financial activities increased significantly (+169.5% to €10.7 million).
Banca Patrimoni Sella & C.
Banca Patrimoni Sella & C., specializing in the management and administration of assets of private and institutional clients, closed the first nine months of 2024 with a net profit of €19 million, slightly down from the €21.8 million of September 2023. Assets under management stood at €25.9 billion, up 26.9% compared to September 2023 and 16.5% compared to the end of last year. Total net deposits amounted to €2.6 billion, while the progressive qualified net funding share reached €1.5 billion, benefiting from customers' interest in asset management products. The results were affected both by the good performance of commission fees, as a result of the bank's further growth in size, and by the contribution of net interest income and profits from operations on the proprietary trading portfolio. The CET1 and Total Capital Ratio were both 15.41% (they were both 13.64% in September 2023).
Among Banca Patrimoni Sella & C.'s subsidiaries, Sella SGR, the Group's asset management company, closed the first nine months of 2024 with net profit of €2.04 million, up 23.3% from the same period last year, and assets under management totaling €4.96 billion (up 21.2% from 30 September 2023). Sella Fiduciaria, a company that provides trust and family office services, closed the first semester of 2024 with assets under management amounting to €1.8 billion, representing an increase of 10.7% compared to September 2023. A total of 700 fiduciary mandates were opened, and 18 trusts and 19 family office contracts were managed.
Fabrick and the fintech ecosystem
Sella Group's development and growth in Open Finance continues through the activity of the specialist company Fabrick and its subsidiaries (Codd&Date, dpixel, Fabrick Solutions Spain, and Judopay, with the latter entering the Group's perimeter in August 2023), which closed the first nine months of 2024 with total net revenues of €45 million, up 14.5% from the previous year. The number of customers also increased - the connected counterparties up to September totaled 612 (+43% compared to September 2023), generating a significant increase in API calls to over 1.18 billion per month. During the third quarter, Fabrick signed several partnership agreements to enable a number of operators in the energy sector to the innovative features of the Open finance platform. The recurring revenues component also increased (+24.7% compared to September 2023), representing 72% of total revenues (it was 67% in September 2023).
By 30 September, the payment business had reached 121,000 customers (up 10% from the same period of the previous year) and had generated a POS and e-commerce transaction value of €20.5 billion (up 9%).
The Fintech District community, within the scope of which open innovation projects are developed, counted 301 fintech associates at the end of September. In addition, there are 50 corporates with whom collaborations have been established over the years.