Company Announcement for the First Quarter of 2023

·6-min read
Realkredit Danmark A/S
Realkredit Danmark A/S

Company Announcement for the First Quarter of 2023

Kamilla Hammerich Skytte, CEO, comments on the financial results:

Realkredit Danmark reported a solid financial result for the first quarter. The increase was topline driven primarily due to income from higher interest rate levels.

Rising interest rates affected the Danish housing market in the first quarter of 2023. Persistently low losses illustrate that homeowners generally have robust personal finances that enable them to cope with higher interest rates and the ongoing downward correction in housing prices, which we expect will continue for the rest of 2023.

The financial uncertainty has made us sharpen our focus on helping customers who may be or already are affected by the situation. We have taken some initiatives to improve the financial security of our customers, amongst other we have lowered the administration margin for interest-only loans with a loan-to-value ratio above 60%. Furthermore, Realkredit Danmark has, together with Danske Bank, entered into a partnership with Tryg, which means homeowners in Denmark now can insure their mortgage payments against loss of income for up to 12 months.

As part of the Danske Bank Group, we are fully committed to our Climate Action Plan of reducing funded emissions on commercial real estate and personal mortgages in Denmark by 75% towards 2030. ESG will become one of the most important strategic focus areas for Realkredit Danmark in the years ahead. In the first quarter, we have set up a new entity in Realkredit Danmark, which in the years ahead will be undertaking the very important societal and commercial task of developing strong and sustainable customer solutions, while also embedding sustainability in the way we run our business.”

Mortgage Market
Activity in the Danish economy remains high, and employment has continued to increase into 2023. Inflation is on the way down driven by falling energy prices, but inflation is still high and the underlying inflationary pressure has been increasing. Combined with the prospect of higher wage growth in the coming years in the wake of this year’s collective bargaining, this may entail that inflation remain elevated for some time. The same trends have been seen in the euro area, leading further interest rate hikes from the ECB in the first quarter.

Growing financial turbulence in the course of March 2023 sent the interest rate pendulum swinging the other way for a while, and coupons for 30-year fixed-rate mortgages moved between 4% and 5% during the quarter. Remortgaging activity shifted down a gear, due to a combination of many homeowners already having remortgaged to reduce their debt, and rising interest rates on variable rate loans reducing the incentive to remortgage from a fixed to a variable rate.

Activity in the housing market stabilised at the beginning of the year after a clear downturn in 2022. An ongoing downward correction for the housing prices is however still expected, and prices for detached houses have so far nationwide dropped almost 10% from the peak in 2022. While the market is still adjusting to the surge in interest rates, the outlook is brighter than it was in autumn 2022, when energy prices and inflation were elevated at very high levels.

First Quarter of 2023
The Realkredit Danmark Group recorded a net profit of DKK 1,063 million in the first quarter of 2023, against DKK 961 million in the same period of 2022. The increase was topline driven primarily due to income from higher interest rate levels. Expenses decreased DKK 4 million, despite expense of DKK 32 million from termination of Danske Bank’s VAT group.

Credit quality remained solid with loan impairment charges at a low level of DKK 52 million. The total allowance account at 31 March 2023 amounted to DKK 2,943 million, against DKK 2,912 million at 31 December 2022.

The steeply increasing mortgage rates have fuelled remortgaging activity from 2022, and our customers reduced nominal outstanding debt by DKK 2.6 billion in the first quarter of 2023. Mortgage lending at nominal value increased by DKK 0.9 billion but measured at fair value, the increase was DKK 5.5 billion. The latter was attributable to higher bond prices. Gross lending amounted to DKK 31 billion, against DKK 47 billion in the first quarter of 2022. Green bond total lending amounted to DKK 22.7 billion at 31 March 2023.

Realkredit Danmark has a proprietary portfolio of DKK 46.9 billion of which DKK 32.9 billion is managed through a hold-to-maturity portfolio. This portfolio is reported at amortised cost and as of Q1 2023 the market value was
DKK 1.8 billion lower.

Realkredit Danmark expects net profit to be somewhat higher than in 2022, due to persistent higher interest rate levels.

Contact: Kamilla Hammerich Skytte, CEO, tel. +45 45 13 20 82.

Financial highlights – Realkredit Danmark Group

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INCOME STATEMENT

Q1

Q1

Index

Q1

Q4

Q3

Q2

Q1

Full year

 

(DKK millions)

2023

2022

23/22

2023

2022

2022

2022

2022

2022

 

Administration margin

1,410

1,458

97

1,410

1,410

1,423

1,442

1,458

5,733

 

Net interest income

158

6

-

158

99

10

-22

6

93

 

Net fee income

52

57

91

52

23

-33

-29

57

18

 

Income from investment portfolios

86

-27

-

86

73

-6

8

-27

48

 

Other income

19

25

76

19

16

18

25

25

84

 

Total income

1,725

1,519

114

1,725

1,621

1,412

1,424

1,519

5,976

 

Expenses

252

256

98

252

293

290

266

256

1,105

 

Profit before loan impairment charges

1,473

1,263

117

1,473

1,328

1,122

1,158

1,263

4,871

 

Loan impairment charges

52

31

168

52

38

201

-58

31

212

 

Profit before tax

1,421

1,232

115

1,421

1,290

921

1,216

1,232

4,659

 

Tax

358

271

132

358

281

203

278

271

1,033

 

Net profit for the period

1,063

961

111

1,063

1,009

718

938

961

3,626

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BALANCE SHEET (END OF PERIOD)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(DKK millions)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Due from credit

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

institutions etc.

13,491

18,688

72

13,491

8,761

9,505

5,515

18,688

8,761

 

Mortgage loans

729,966

779,211

94

729,966

724,438

706,695

739,996

779,211

724,438

 

Bonds and shares

47,668

45,523

105

47,668

46,722

45,648

46,179

45,523

46,722

 

Other assets

1,834

3,322

55

1,834

2,307

1,317

1,873

3,322

2,307

 

Total assets

792,959

846,744

94

792,959

782,228

763,165

793,563

846,744

782,228

 

Due to credit institutions etc.

2,000

2,000

100

2,000

2,000

2,000

2,000

2,000

2,000

 

Issued mortgage bonds

737,694

792,508

93

737,694

724,105

707,784

740,480

792,508

724,105

 

Other liabilities

6,312

5,403

117

6,312

6,646

4,919

3,330

5,403

6,646

 

Shareholders' equity

46,953

46,833

100

46,953

49,477

48,462

47,753

46,833

49,477

 

Total liabilities and equity

792,959

846,744

94

792,959

782,228

763,165

793,563

846,744

782,228

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

RATIOS AND KEY FIGURES

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Net profit for the period as % p.a.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

of average shareholders' equity

8.8

8.0

 

8.8

8.2

6.0

7.9

8.0

7.3

 

Impairment charges as % p.a.
of mortgage lending

0.03

0.02

 

0.03

0.02

0.11

-0.03

0.02

0.03

 

Cost/income ratio (%)

14.6

16.9

 

14.6

18.1

20.5

18.7

16.9

18.5

 

Total capital ratio (%)

28.8

27.9

 

28.8

29.1

31.2

30.1

27.9

29.1

 

Tier 1 capital ratio (%)

28.3

27.6

 

28.3

28.6

30.5

29.7

27.6

28.6

 

Mortgage loans, nominal value

802,883

809,465

 

802,883

802,024

803,362

804,115

809,465

802,024

 

Full-time-equivalent staff (end of period)

228

228

 

228

227

228

228

228

227

 

The company announcement for the first quarter of 2023 has not been prepared in accordance with IAS 34, Interim Financial Reporting, as adopted by the EU, and additional Danish disclosure requirements for interim reports of issuers of listed bonds.

Attachment