In This Article:
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| 1Q2025 | 4Q2024 | 1Q2024 |
| Net result (in millions of EUR) | 546 | 1 116 | 506 |
| Basic earnings per share (in EUR) | 1.32 | 2.75 | 1.18 |
| Breakdown of the net result by business unit (in millions of EUR) |
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| Belgium | 281 | 487 | 243 |
| Czech Republic | 207 | 238 | 197 |
| International Markets | 135 | 175 | 146 |
| Group Centre | -77 | 215 | -80 |
| Parent shareholders’ equity per share (in EUR, end of period) | 58.8 | 56.6 | 54.9 |
‘We recorded a net profit of 546 million euros in the first quarter of 2025. Compared to the result of the previous quarter, our total income benefited from several factors, including increased insurance revenues, trading and fair value income and net other income, while net interest income and net fee and commission income were slightly down as a result of seasonality and some positive year-end effects in the fourth quarter of 2024.
Our loan portfolio continued to expand, increasing by 2% quarter-on-quarter and by 7% year-on-year. Customer deposits – excluding volatile, low-margin short-term deposits at KBC Bank’s foreign branches – were stable quarter-on-quarter (with a shift from term deposits to savings accounts) and up 7% year-on-year.
Operating expenses were up, since the bulk of the bank and insurance taxes for the full year are recorded – as usual – in the first quarter. Disregarding bank and insurance taxes, operating expenses fell by 8% quarter-on-quarter. Insurance service expenses also fell, as did loan loss impairment charges, resulting in a very favourable credit cost ratio of just 8 basis points for the quarter under review (16 basis points excluding the changes in the reserve for geopolitical and macroeconomic uncertainties).
Our solvency position remained strong, with an unfloored fully loaded common equity ratio under Basel IV of 14.5% at the end of March 2025. Our liquidity position remained very solid too, as illustrated by an LCR of 157% and NSFR of 140%.
On 8 May 2025, we paid a final dividend of 3.15 euros per share, bringing the total dividend for full-year 2024 to 4.85 euros per share. We also updated our dividend and capital deployment policy. As from 2025, we will pay a dividend of between 50% and 65% of our consolidated result, 1 euro of which will be paid in November as an interim dividend. We aim to remain amongst the better capitalised financial institutions in Europe. Each year, when announcing the full-year results, our Board will take a decision – at its discretion - on capital deployment. The focus will predominantly be on further organic growth alongside mergers and acquisitions. We see a 13% unfloored fully loaded common equity ratio as the minimum.