By now, you know us well. You know that our deepest commitment extends to continuously providing our customers with meaningful services, maintaining stability, and fostering growth in the markets of our operations, as well as driving shareholder value and advancing their interests. You also know that we constantly strive to exceed expectations and that we do not shy away from seizing opportunities that lie beyond not yet discovered horizons. This was also the case for NLB Group in 2024.
In the preceding year, we clearly and confidently demonstrated our ambition that reaches beyond the known by introducing NLB Group’s new business strategy – a strategy designed to devote our Group and its talents to growth and development in a rapidly changing financial environment. The strategy stipulates that the Group’s ambition remains to create sustainable growth to support individuals and businesses alike. It foresees the doubling of NLB Group’s balance sheet (to more than EUR 50 billion assets), recurring revenues of more than EUR 2 billion, and a profit of more than EUR 1 billion by 2030.
Although the recent economic turmoil from US policies indirectly effects our region, it is still our base case that potential realignment in the European economic structure might ultimately even strengthen our geographies with a case of near shoring becoming even more compelling. Short-term market turmoil and its effect on customer confidence could however temporarily affect loan demand.
2024 has helped establish the foundation of our business strategy with the strong business result reaching EUR 515 million of net income after tax. Further milestones we have reached in 2024 have been the successful completion of the acquisition of SLS Group, meaningfully accelerating our growth plan in this important product segment and also marking NLB’s re-entry into the Croatian market after three decades. We also remain committed to our sustainability goals and significantly improved our ESG Risk Rating (to 10.5).
The Group’s robust performance in the previous year generated substantial value for our shareholders, as NLB honoured its commitment by increasing its 2024 dividend payment by 100%, with a total payment of EUR 220 million or 40% payout ratio from 2023 profit. Importantly, we retained 50% from 2024 profit for our year-end capital ratio, meaning 50% of 2024 profit or EUR 257 million are available for distribution in 2025. As in previous years, we intend to propose to the General Meeting that the distribution be made in two tranches in 2025, subject to no material M&A activity becoming actionable. The first tranche is expected to be proposed at the regular General Meeting scheduled for June 2025.
All our achievements, strategically structured plans and ambitions keep us firmly positioned for further growth and development. Consequentially – and perhaps even more importantly – they also ensure our stability in supporting all the markets, societies, and communities where we operate. More specifically, our dedication to Southeastern Europe, our home region, goes beyond simply providing financial solutions and services. We are committed to fostering a thriving community where individuals and businesses identify new opportunities and explore new horizons. We know that here we are a part of something bigger.
Full text of the Annual Report is available on FCA's National Storage Mechanism and on Ljubljana Stock Exchange website, as well as on the Company's website.
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