Helen Chandler-Wilde: The UK Just Needs More of Everything
There is one word that seems to sum up our twin political and economic issues in the UK: capacity.
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Sir Keir Starmer is caught between Trump, Macron and MPs over Palestine recognition
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Leonteq AG (XSWX:LEON) (H1 2025) Earnings Call Highlights: Strong Profit Growth Amidst Revenue ...
Release Date: July 24, 2025 For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. Positive Points Leonteq AG (XSWX:LEON) reported a 33% year-on-year increase in underlying profit before taxes, reaching CHF 17 million in the first half of 2025. The company disclosed a strong CET 1 ratio of 14.4% as of June 30, 2025, exceeding the regulatory minimum requirement of 10.5%. Leonteq AG has taken decisive actions to restore profitability while maintaining strong regulatory discipline. The company has announced new financial targets for 2027, aiming for significant revenue growth with a broadly flat cost base. Recurring revenues from actively managed certificates continued to register notable growth, indicating strong performance in this segment. Negative Points Total operating income decreased by 7% to CHF 124 million year-on-year, mainly due to lower net fee income and a reduction in net interest results. The overall turnover decreased by 8% year-on-year to CHF 15 billion, with a significant drop in turnover with historic partners. Net fee income from large ticket transactions decreased substantially to CHF 2.4 million in the first half of 2025 compared to CHF 10.6 million in the prior year period. The company faced challenges due to uncertainty around legacy compliance matters, which weighed on client activity. Interest rate hikes in past years reduced the relative attractiveness of Leonteq AG's yield enhancement products, impacting performance. Q & A Highlights Warning! GuruFocus has detected 6 Warning Signs with XSWX:LEON. Q: Could you explain the impact of the enhanced regulatory and risk framework on the decrease in large transaction results and provide an outlook for fee income in H2? A: Hans Wiedler, CFO: The decrease in large ticket transactions from CHF 10.6 million to CHF 2.5 million in H1 2025 was influenced by legacy compliance issues affecting client activity. However, we do not anticipate regulatory changes impacting large transactions. We expect these transactions to return to their usual range of CHF 8 to 12 million in the future. Q: Can you provide an outlook for your new business initiatives, particularly AMC, and elaborate on your plans for expanding third-party product distribution? A: Christian Spilo, CEO: AMC is a strong existing business, and we expect continued growth due to market demand and our competitive offering. For third-party product distribution, we plan to leverage our large network to distribute products like private equity and quantitative investment strategies, which we don't manufacture in-house, thus generating fees efficiently. Q: What does "meaningfully above 15%" mean in the context of your new capital return policy? A: Christian Spilo, CEO: The target CET1 ratio is 15%, and "meaningfully above" means maintaining a stable ratio above this threshold before distributing excess capital through share buybacks. Q: Can you explain the decline in volumes with historic partners and the drop in product margins in H1? A: Hans Wiedler, CFO: The decline in volumes with historic partners is due to varying funding appetites and risk exposures. New partners increased their contribution by 14%, partially offsetting this. Regarding product margins, competition and technology drive a long-term trend of margin reduction, despite temporary increases during volatile periods. Q: Could you provide more details on the retail flow business and its development? A: Hans Wiedler, CFO: We have over 3,000 products listed on the Swiss Stock Exchange and plan to expand into the German market by 2026 and Italy thereafter. The retail flow business is developing well, with increasing demand and a meaningful contribution expected to grow further. For the complete transcript of the earnings call, please refer to the full earnings call transcript. This article first appeared on GuruFocus.
