OVB increases sales by 15.3 per cent in 2024, reaching a new high

• Strong growth in brokerage income to Euro 408.6 million
• EBIT also increases significantly by 14.0 per cent to Euro 20.3 million
• Earnings per share improve disproportionately from Euro 1.00 to Euro 1.35
• Dividend proposal of Euro 1.00 corresponds to an 11.1 per cent increase

Cologne, 28 March 2025. OVB Holding AG, one of Europe’s leading financial advisory groups, based in Cologne, continued its consistent growth in the 2024 financial year. Brokerage income rose significantly by 15.3 per cent to Euro 408.6 million. The Company has thus achieved a new record in sales for the fifth year in a row. The operating result was improved significantly, too, by 14.0 per cent from Euro 17.8 million to Euro 20.3 million.

The number of clients also reached a new high of 4.70 million, gaining 4.5 per cent in the reporting period. The European OVB sales team was further expanded as well. The total number of full-time financial advisors grew considerably by 6.6 per cent from 5,892 to 6,278.

After the successful financial year 2024, the Executive Board and the Supervisory Board decided at yesterday’s meeting to propose to the Annual General Meeting an increase in the dividend for the 2024 financial year to Euro 1.00 per share carrying dividend rights.

Mario Freis, CEO of OVB Holding AG: »Due to the consistent expansion of our European sales team, we managed to significantly increase our growth momentum across the Group in financial year 2024. All three operating segments contributed to this satisfying development.«

The Central and Eastern Europe segment contributed to the strong increase in Group sales with a significant sales growth of 15.1 per cent to Euro 228.4 million. In the Germany segment, brokerage income rose considerably by 5.1 per cent to Euro 61.7 million. In the Southern and Western Europe region, brokerage income also rose sharply by 22.0 per cent to Euro 118.5 million.

In total, the Group generated an operating result of Euro 20.3 million in the 2024 financial year. This represents a 14.0 per cent increase compared to the prior-year EBIT of Euro 17.8 million. EBIT in the Germany segment decreased by 9.7 per cent from Euro 4.8 million to Euro 4.4 million. As planned, the earnings performance in the domestic market was characterised by a significant increase in expenditure on digitalisation and the systematic training and professional development of the next generation of sales executives. The effect of these measures was positively reflected in the sales growth of 2024 already. In the Southern and Western Europe segment, EBIT remained below the previous year’s figure due to various temporary special effects in individual markets. In the Central and Eastern Europe segment, the operating result went up 21.5 per cent from Euro 19.6 million to Euro 23.9 million due to a significant increase in brokerage income.

Due to the doubling of the financial result to Euro 6.2 million, consolidated net income for the reporting period rose sharply by 34.2 per cent to Euro 19.2 million, compared to Euro 14.3 million in the previous year. Accordingly, earnings per share improved significantly from Euro 1.00 to Euro 1.35.

Outlook for 2025

Generally speaking, the Executive Board of OVB Holding AG expects to achieve growth in all segments in 2025. In order to take into account the currently existing uncertainties in the macroeconomic development, OVB forecasts brokerage income for the Group in the range of Euro 420 million to Euro 440 million for the 2025 financial year. In view of the expenses linked to the implementation of the Group’s medium-term growth strategy, particularly with respect to the digital transformation, an operating result of between Euro 20 million and Euro 23 million is expected.

About OVB Group

OVB Group, with its holding company based in Cologne, is one of Europe’s leading financial advisory groups. Since its formation in 1970, OVB has focused its business on long-term, cross-thematic and, above all, client-oriented financial advice of private households. OVB cooperates with more than 100 high-capacity product providers and fulfils its clients’ individual needs with competitive products, starting at basic protection for financial security as well as asset and financial risk protection and followed by retirement provision, asset generation and wealth management.

OVB currently operates in 16 European countries. 6,278 full-time financial advisors support 4.70 million clients. In 2024, OVB Holding AG generated brokerage income of Euro 408.6 million and EBIT of Euro 20.3 million with its subsidiaries. Since July 2006, OVB Holding AG has been listed at the Frankfurt Stock Exchange (Prime Standard, ISIN DE0006286560).

Key figures of the OVB Group for financial year 2024

^{* 2024 proposal}

Key figures by region for financial year 2024

^{Percentages and figures may be subject to rounding differences. Percentages are calculated on the basis of EUR thousand.}