grenke reports €15.5m Q1 earnings as new leasing business rises 4.2%

grenke AG reported higher earnings and leasing new business growth in the first quarter of 2026, as the small-ticket leasing specialist continued to benefit from strong operating income growth and disciplined cost management despite ongoing macroeconomic pressures.

Group earnings increased to €15.5 million in Q1 2026, up from €10.2 million in the same period last year, while leasing new business rose 4.2% year-on-year to €786.4 million.

The company said income from operating business increased by 10.2% to €170.8 million, supported by strong leasing growth in recent years and rising interest income. Operating costs increased by only 2.2% to €89.9 million, helping improve the cost-income ratio to 52.6%, compared with 56.8% in Q1 2025.

Operating result before settlement of claims and risk provision increased 20.8% to €80.9 million.

However, grenke said the challenging macroeconomic environment and persistently high insolvency levels continued to weigh on performance, with the loss rate remaining elevated but stable at 1.9%.

Dr Sebastian Hirsch, CEO of grenke AG, said: “We have shown that we are able to manage our business agilely and profitably, even in a challenging environment. We remain on track to achieve our targets for the current financial year.”

Dr Martin Paal, CFO of grenke AG, added: “Our cost discipline is delivering results. Based on significantly slower cost growth, we improved our cost-income ratio and increased our operating result before settlement of claims and risk provision by more than 20 percent.”

The company’s core markets of Germany, France and Italy drove much of the leasing growth, with combined new business across the three countries increasing 6.7% to €442.6 million. Spain and the United Kingdom also remained among grenke’s five largest markets.

Regionally, the strongest growth came from the DACH region, where leasing new business increased 11% to €185.5 million. Southern Europe grew 6.1%, while Western Europe excluding DACH increased 4.7%.

Northern and Eastern Europe was the only region to report a decline, primarily due to the expiry of eBike subsidies in Finland and more cautious customer investment activity amid geopolitical uncertainty.

IT devices, including laptops, IT equipment and software, remained the largest lease object category by number of contracts, accounting for 29.4% of agreements signed during the quarter.

The company also highlighted continued improvements in operational efficiency. Net interest income increased 6.9% to €106.7 million, while operating costs remained tightly controlled despite ongoing investment and headcount growth.

Lease receivables increased to €7.5 billion as of March 31, 2026, compared with €7.3 billion at the end of 2025.

During the quarter, grenke also strengthened its refinancing position through the successful issuance of an additional €500 million bond, alongside continued support from grenke Bank deposits, ABCP programmes and external bank funding.

Looking ahead, grenke maintained its full-year 2026 guidance, expecting Group earnings of between €74 million and €86 million and leasing new business volume of between €3.4 billion and €3.6 billion.

The company also reiterated its longer-term ambition of achieving a return on equity after taxes of 10% by 2030.