Dear clients and business partners of Deutsche Leasing,
All in all, we can look back on a successful financial year for the Deutsche Leasing Group: we have exploited profitable market opportunities, resolutely forged ahead with strategic projects and set our course for the future. The capital increase which the savings banks, as our shareholders, have resolved was a particularly important milestone with a view to the further expansion of our green finance activities.
Given the challenging conditions, the fact that we have been able to maintain the positive business trend of the past few years should not be taken for granted. The financial year 2023/24 was characterised by economic tensions, political uncertainty and dynamic global conflicts. Smouldering trade conflicts, protectionist economic tendencies and geopolitical tensions are continuing to shape the global economy. In Germany in particular, companies are also being impacted by the continued stagnation of the economy as well as high energy, labour and material costs, strong structural changes and significant regulatory requirements.
As a medium-sized enterprise, we are familiar with the urgent and complex challenges which our SME customers face. They are having to contend with a persistently demanding environment. At the same time, they must continue to follow through on issues which are critical to their future success while also exploiting current market opportunities. With sound investment concepts, we are helping our customers handle this balancing act as well as possible.
Together with them, we are shaping manifold aspects of the process of change. On the one hand, we are enabling operationally necessary investments, such as in the areas of efficiency gains and modernisation. On the other, we are supporting strategic investments relating to the key transformative issues of our time, such as digitalisation, decarbonisation and renewable energy. As before, market opportunities are there for the taking.
As a strong financing partner and an active transformation service provider, we are continuing to help our customers and partners to successfully exploit these opportunities. They can continue to rely on our decades of industry and asset expertise and experience. There have always been processes of transformation and change. And for over 60 years we have shaped the evolution of the German economy together with our customers and partners through entire business cycles.
We would like to thank Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe for the many years of our trusting partnership and for our successful working relationship. We would also like to express our heartfelt thanks to our customers and partners for our in-depth cooperation and for the trust which they have placed in us. Above all, we would like to thank our employees – with their strong team spirit and their considerable commitment, they have made a decisive contribution to our success in the financial year 2023/24.
New business continues to exceed the 10 billion mark and increases slightly
The Deutsche Leasing Group ended the financial year 2023/24 with a solid result which it achieved in a difficult environment and despite a weak economic trend. It was our broad market positioning, in particular, that helped us once again to hold our own in overall terms. We made targeted use of potential in the field of transformation financing.
We have exceeded the EUR 10 billion mark for our new business volume for the fourth time in our company’s history and thus consolidated our leading position on the market. The volume of new business for the financial year 2023/24 amounted to EUR 10.3 billion. Due to the economic conditions, it rose only slightly by 2 per cent (previous year: EUR 10.1 billion).
We increased our economic result to a record level of EUR 216 million (previous year: EUR 180 million). Our net asset value which, like our economic result, has continuously risen over the past five years has registered a significant increase to around EUR 2.5 billion (previous year: EUR 2.4 billion). This has again strengthened the economic fundamentals of the Deutsche Leasing Group.
Particularly positive trend for machinery and foreign business as well as renewableenergy projects
A glance at the distribution of new business by asset class in our various business segments shows that our business segments generally matched or slightly exceeded the level achieved in the previous year.
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Our machinery and equipment segment was an exception and registered significant growth in terms of its volume of new business. Following a slight decrease in the previous year, we have achieved EUR 4.8 billion of new business in this segment, which accounts for the core of our asset finance business. We have thus realised a significant increase of EUR 251 million in our new business volume, which corresponds to a growth rate of around 5 per cent. Foreign business accounted for the largest share of this with a volume of EUR 195 million.
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The volume of new business in our energy and transport segment – which mainly encompasses investments in infrastructure and utilities as well as transport and logistics – has increased to EUR 1.7 billion and is thus slightly higher than in the previous year (EUR 1.6 billion). The volume of support provided for renewable energy projects and investments in the regional rail passenger transport sector picked up significantly in this segment.
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Our road vehicles segment comprises commercial vehicles as well as the passenger car market. At EUR 2.7 billion, the new business volume in this field was at the same level as in the previous year (EUR 2.7 billion).
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With a volume of EUR 322 million, we roughly matched the level achieved in the previous year in our information and communication technology segment (EUR 335 million).
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Our real estate segment realised a volume of EUR 689 million, a slight decline of around 9 per cent on the previous year (EUR 757 million). This reflected the weak economic trend, which also led to a decline in corporate real estate investments.
Factoring business adversely affected by the weak economic situation
Deutsche Factoring Bank (DFB) achieved factoring turnover of EUR 18.4 billion in the calendar year 2024. This represents a decrease of almost 16 per cent by comparison with the previous year. In the period from 2021 to 2023, DFB’s turnover consistently exceeded the EUR 20 billion mark. In 2024, this decline in turnover was mainly attributable to the weak economic trend and the focus on profitability which we had already initiated in the previous year.
In the second half of the year, DFB repositioned its joint market exploitation strategy together with the savings banks. With its receivables financing and debt management products, DFB focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises and is Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe’s factoring centre of excellence.
BHI expands business with existing customers and gains new customers
Bad Homburger Inkasso (BHI) expanded its existing business in the financial year 2023/24, picked up new customers and acquired a large number of new cases. It is active on behalf of 1,403 clients in total, including 324 savings banks and other Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe members. BHI supervises a volume of receivables amounting to approx. EUR 26.2 billion. As an associated company of the Deutsche Leasing Group, BHI offers a comprehensive range of debt solutions and the market-oriented resale of collateral (debt and collateral management).
SKP with a new shareholder structure and significant business growth
The restructuring of the shareholder structure of S-Kreditpartner (SKP) within Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe was resolved in the financial year 2023/24. In this context, Deutsche Leasing increased its share in this company to 40 per cent from the financial year 2024/25 onwards. SKP is a joint venture of Deutsche Leasing together with Berliner Sparkasse and Sparkassen-Verbundgesellschaft.
Sales in 2024 were strong for SKP, with a gross new business volume of EUR 5.2 billion. This represents significant growth of 30 per cent year-on-year. SKP has increased its endcustomer base by 9.2 per cent to EUR 11.4 billion and thus considerably exceeded its 1.9 per cent rate of market growth. Currently, 61 per cent of the savings banks are cooperating with SKP through fully fledged partnerships. Twelve such partnerships were added in 2024.
Towards the end of the financial year 2023/24, the Deutsche Leasing Group acquired SKP’s dealer purchase finance business for leisure vehicles. This business has a volume of around EUR 650 million and encompasses a customer segment of more than 300 dealers. In future, SKP will thus be able to concentrate even more on its core business with the savings banks’ private customers. Through this acquisition, Deutsche Leasing will strengthen its expertise in the field of dealer purchase finance where it has already been active for many years, including in the agricultural and construction segments.
Stronger foundations for further growth and a stronger capital base for the energy transition
In the financial year 2023/24, we exploited market opportunities and laid key foundations for further growth in Germany and other countries and thus strengthened our competitive position. In 2024, Deutsche Leasing received ratings from two major rating agencies for the first time. Its “A+/Stable Outlook” rating from Fitch and “A2/outlook stable” rating from Moody’s will contribute to a strengthened position in the market. DFB likewise received an “A+/Stable Outlook” rating from Fitch last year.
Our capital increase with a total volume of EUR 300 million which our shareholders, the savings banks, resolved in the past financial year was a particularly significant step in shaping our future development. The trust which this decision demonstrates underlines our strong positioning as well as our economic and strategic anchoring within the Sparkasse group. This additional equity will be contributed over a period of three years and will mainly be used for the expansion of our green finance activities. Together with the savings banks, we intend to finance projects supporting the green transformation with a volume of up to EUR 6 billion and to promote further growth in the field of renewable energy and green infrastructure, thus making a significant contribution to Germany’s energy transition.
Overall, the Deutsche Leasing Group has further expanded its commitment to the field of sustainability. Since September 2024, through DAL Deutsche Anlagen-Leasing (DAL), we have offered our group partners the opportunity to purchase green electricity from the solar parks situated at Kleinschirma in Saxony and Halenbeck-Rohlsdorf in Brandenburg. DAL holds equity investments in these parks’ operating companies. In our own sustainability management activities in the past financial year, we performed our own materiality assessment in line with the CSRD, as well as an ESG risk driver analysis. We also expanded our sustainability standards in the area of partner and supplier management and established a sustainable financing framework as prescribed by Deutscher Sparkassen- und Giroverband (DSGV).
In terms of our intragroup business with the savings banks, Deutsche Leasing has participated in important strategic projects of DSGV relating to corporate customers, e.g. in its “transformation financing” project. In addition, we have stepped up our trust-based cooperation with the savings banks even further in the past financial year. For this purpose, we have introduced specific support concepts which are intended to ensure a high level of customer satisfaction and we have expanded our range of solutions for business and commercial customers which will establish new opportunities for the savings banks in the area of small-volume business.
Our Sparkassen-Mobilitätsportal (S-Mobilitätsportal) is one such new solution in the field of digitalisation. This was piloted in the financial year 2023/24 and successfully introduced onto the market. This portal is provided as a service for the savings banks’ business and commercial customers and can be used to independently configure vehicles of multiple manufacturers and to calculate leasing offerings. vent.io expanded its activities in relation to digital customer and partner interfaces and in the areas of digitalisation as well as ESG and mobility solutions. Its “SuM Assistant” is an AI-based tool which supports Deutsche Leasing’s sales activities, while its “TCO Calculator” (total costs of ownership calculator) uses AI recommendations relating to the electrification of vehicle fleets to improve customer advisory services in the field of mobility. In addition, vent.io made new and follow-up investments in B2B start-ups including the AI start-up Syte, whose platform analyses the construction and energy potential of plots of land.
Despite the geopolitical uncertainty and the macroeconomic trends, Deutsche Leasing has further expanded its market activities in the field of international business. This included its growing support for major foreign investments in “German desk” business, together with savings banks and federal state banks. Deutsche Leasing advises and supports the SME sector in Germany, Austria and Switzerland (the “DACH” region) in relation to its direct investments in 23 countries. Within Sparkassen-Finanzgruppe, Deutsche Leasing serves as a centre of excellence for asset finance and asset services in foreign markets.
Cautious optimism for the financial year 2023/24
The market environment remains volatile, demanding and complex in the current financial year for us and our customers. The challenges mentioned at the start of this letter still apply. These include geopolitical tensions, smouldering trade conflicts and a German economy which is cyclically and structurally weakened, even in international comparison.
While the overall economy is likely to demonstrate only subdued growth momentum, the Deutsche Leasing Group will have concrete growth opportunities in areas of market potential which are less dependent on cyclical trends. We can rely on solid foundations for this as we are well placed in terms of our capital base and provisions and have thus secured a strong starting position in many target markets, including the areas of mobility and IT business. This also applies to our relationships with the savings banks.
In the field of sustainability, investments in renewable energy – such as wind farms and solar power plants as well as energy infrastructure – remain key market drivers. Investments in decarbonisation likewise continue to offer potential, for example in the area of energy-saving plant replacements. This brings home the various aspects of the process of change. In our own sustainability management activities, we intend to establish an environment management system for the Deutsche Leasing Group. We will also expand our own e-charging infrastructure. Moreover, we will widen the scope of our ESG governance to pursue our goals with a focused, long-term perspective on the basis of measurable indicators, while following an action plan.
We continue to see major growth potential in our intragroup business with the savings banks. Green finance and transformation financing business are particularly significant sources of momentum here – entirely in keeping with the goals behind our capital increase. By participating in important strategic DSGV projects, we are strengthening the customer approach which we pursue together with the savings banks. Through our new “corporate customer portal”, we will thus expand our range of services offered via our digital sales channel. This also applies to Deutsche Leasing’s group partners. Moreover, our “integrated contact management system for corporate customers” will enable us, together with the savings banks, to contact customers systematically via an automated and even more targeted approach beginning in 2026.
We will continue to develop the Deutsche Leasing Group’s digital solutions and services while clearly focusing on our customers. This includes the development of a service portal for our existing customers as well as the continued roll-out of our S-Mobilitätsportal. Together with vent.io, in the financial year 2024/25, we intend to intensify our work on innovative solutions in the areas of digitalisation and AI-based products, which will increase efficiency while also making an important contribution to sustainability. In addition, we plan to expand our start-up portfolio and continue with the success we have already achieved so far in our partnerships with start-ups and investments.
The Deutsche Leasing Group sees international business as a growth field. It assists companies in Germany, Austria and Switzerland with their foreign investments in over 20 countries, enters into partnerships with international vendors and operates as a central ECA partner for savings banks. German companies’ growing foreign investments and the increasing significance of individual foreign markets are generating market opportunities. The expansion of Deutsche Leasing’s range of insurance products and structured financing in the areas of specialist transactions and project business offer additional business potential.
Two new appointments to Deutsche Leasing’s Management Board will help us to exploit market opportunities over the next few financial years. Dr Thomas Söhlke will take over from Georg Hansjürgens on 1 April 2025. Rainer Weis is due to retire on 1 December 2025 and David Gerstner will take charge of his remit, which includes intragroup business.
Overall, the Deutsche Leasing Group will continue to pursue its long-term growth and income goals in the financial year 2024/25. Depending on the macroeconomic trend and while remaining true to our proven risk standards, we will seek to increase our new business volume and strengthen our net asset value and equity.
Going forward, key issues will include digitalisation, sustainability, decarbonisation and modern infrastructure. The need for investment in these areas will remain high in the long term. There have always been processes of change and transformation, and so it will continue. We know how to finance change and provide targeted support here even in challenging conditions and we will continue to do so in future. As an active transformation service provider, we will continue to support our customers, the savings banks and our partners to assist them with their future investments and, together, serve the German business sector in relation to the various aspects of its evolution.
We will continue to rely on the expertise and long-term experience within the Deutsche Leasing Group and on a cooperation based on trust and partnership with our customers, the savings banks and partners. We always strive to ensure their satisfaction, which is at the heart of everything we do.
