Grupo Cajamar posts profit of €91 million in the first quarter
Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar has reached €105.012 billion in managed business volume and has continued to improve its commercial activity.
- Consolidated profit before tax amounted to €134.9 million, up 30.2%, representing a year-on-year increase of 4.8%, after tax, including €14.1 million in Bank Tax.
- Growth in customer funds under management increased by 11.1%, due to good performance of both on-balance-sheet and off-balance-sheet assets.
- With a consolidated and diversified portfolio, loans and receivables grew by 5.3%, with a notable year-on-year increase of 11.5% in lending to businesses, ahead of the competition in the agri-food sector, with a share of 15.4%.
- Grupo Cajamar continues to position itself as one of the significant entities, with a low NPL ratio of 1.85%, well below the industry average.
- It also continues to increase its capital strength, with a phased-in total capital ratio of 16.6% and a phased-in CET 1 ratio of 14.3%, thanks to 7.5% year-on-year growth in eligible own funds.
Results
In the first quarter of the year, Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar continued to improve its commercial activity, both in terms of customer funds under management and in terms of the quality and growth of its loans and receivables, reaching a total volume of funds managed of €105,012 million euros, while increasing its total capital ratio to 16.6% and its profitability to 8.4%.
This positive scenario prompted Fitch Ratings in the first quarter of the year to upgrade Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar’s long-term credit rating to ’BBB’ with a stable outlook, thus improving the outlook while maintaining the investment grade rating. Since 2024, Grupo Cajamar has had investment-grade ratings from the three agencies that rate it, namely, S&P, Fitch Ratings and DBRS Morningstar.
The gross margin remains strong at €380 million (-1.5% year-on-year), boosted by strong business performance, which increased total fee and commission income by 25.4% and joint ventures by 26.4%.
At the same time, the operating margin reached €197.2 million, bringing the efficiency ratio to 48.1%, which together with the reduction in impairment losses on assets (-27%) and provisions and gains/losses (-59%) raised pre-tax income by 30.2%, to €134.9 million. After deducting taxes, including the Bank Tax, which amounted to €14.1 million, consolidated net profit came to €91 million, 4.8% more than in the same quarter of the previous year.
Commercial activity
The positive performance of the Group’s assets and liabilities maintained the total volume of funds managed above €100,000 million, at €105,012 million, 6.17% more than the figure for the same quarter of the previous year. Customer funds under management grew by 11.1% in the first quarter, driven both by on-balance-sheet customer funds, which rose by 8.5%, and by off-balance-sheet funds, which rose by 23%, the most notable growth being in sales of investment funds, which rose 34.8%, well above the industry average.
Loans and receivables followed an upward trend of 5.3% year-on-year to €38,856 million, with an increase of 11.5% in lending to companies, thus maintaining the Group’s leadership, with a 15.4% share, in lending to the agri-food sector, which is a strategic sector for Grupo Cajamar. Thus, 41.7% of the new lending to businesses, which totalled €4,226 million, went to the agri-food sector, 27.6% to large companies, 20% to small businesses, and 10.8% to small and medium enterprises.
As a result of the positive trend in commercial activity, Grupo Cajamar has increased its market shares, both in investment, to 3.12%, and in deposits, to 2.88%.
Customer service
Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar has achieved very noteworthy results in terms of customer satisfaction and commitment and was the second best rated financial service provider among the significant Spanish institutions over the last 12 months, according to the ‘National Benchmarking Report on Customer Satisfaction in the Financial Sector’ issued by the consultancy firm Stiga, which specialises in the measurement, analysis and improvement of customer experience.
The 5,090 professionals employed by Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar’s member entities provide tailored, personalised advice and service to their more than 3.8 million customers through their 948 branches and rural counters, in particular the 8 mobile branches, which serve 53 small towns and villages with between 170 and 1,500 inhabitants. On 1 April, the number of mobile branches was increased to 12, serving 78 low-population locations. The Group’s customers also have access to its digital channels: app, digital banking and electronic banking.
Asset quality and capital strength
Grupo Cajamar has further reduced the cost of risk to 0.39%, while maintaining coverage levels. Thus, total non-performing loans decreased by 1.3%, to €764 million, and the NPL ratio was reduced to 1.85%, one of the lowest among significant institutions in Spain and well below the industry average. The NPL coverage ratio reached 74.4 %.
The year-on-year increase of 7.5% in eligible own funds boosts the phased-in total capital ratio to 16.6% and the phased-in CET 1 ratio to 14.3%. Grupo Cajamar thus continues to strengthen its capital structure and thus comfortably meet regulatory capital requirements, with a surplus of €933 million. The MREL ratio, meanwhile, rose by 1.9 percentage points to 25.2%, thus adding a comfortable margin above the required ratio applicable as of 26 February 2025, which is 22.59%.
The Group has a comfortable liquidity position, supported by growth in on-balance-sheet customer funds and wholesale issues. Thus, the liquidity coverage ratio (LCR) stands at 214.2%, while the net stable funding ratio (NSFR) is 151.8% and the loan-to-deposit (LTD) ratio is 80.3%. The Group also has €3,789 million of mortgage covered bond issuance capacity.
Sustainable finance
Committed to sustainability, the Cajamar cooperative bank is one of the best rated companies by Morningstar Sustainalytics in the ESG Industry, where it has obtained sectoral recognition for its management of environmental, social and corporate governance risks. Similarly, it has confirmed its leadership position in climate change and corporate transparency through the recognition granted by CDP as one of the 346 companies worldwide that have obtained the highest ‘A‘ rating, which places it in the ‘Leadership‘ category for its corporate transparency and climate change performance.
In addition, February marked the holding of the “1st Cajamar Sustainability Forum”, in which the chairman and the CEO of Cajamar, Eduardo Baamonde and Sergio Pérez, accompanied by the chairman of IBM and senior managers of Telefónica, Repsol, Acciona, Vall Companys and subject experts, shared ideas and knowledge on how all the economic agents should contribute to and promote sustainability, taking advantage of the opportunities offered by the fight against climate change.
Registered office
At the beginning of March, the Board of Directors of Banco de Crédito Social Cooperativo (BCC), the parent of Grupo Cooperativo Cajamar, agreed to establish its new registered office at the Cajamar Financial Centre in the Almería Science and Technology Park (PITA), where most of Grupo Cajamar’s Central Services staff, and the staff of the subsidiaries that provide technological and auxiliary services supporting its financial activity, work.
This relocation thus brings the bulk of the team of professionals that serve the 18 Grupo Cajamar entities together in the same headquarters and reinforces the Group’s commitment to contribute to the economic, social and environmental development of the Spanish East Coast region, which is the shared home of all the Group’s rural savings banks.