Smartbroker Group publishes first preliminary figures for 2022 and announces modernization of wallstreet-online.de

Smartbroker Group publishes first preliminary figures for 2022 and announces modernization of wallstreet-online.de
 

• Preliminary results marginally below guidance
• Client assets under custody increased
• Despite reduced marketing expenses, more than 30,000 new securities accounts were opened
• Preliminary figures for 2022 and outlook for 2023 to be published in March

Berlin, 27 January 2023

Smartbroker Holding AG (formerly wallstreet:online AG, ISIN: DE000A2GS609, FSE: SB1, the “Company”) yesterday announced an updated turn-out for the financial year 2022. Due to the challenging market environment and a weaker-than-expected fourth quarter, the Company expects group preliminary revenues of around € 52 million and a preliminary consolidated operating EBITDA of around € 9 million. This is slightly below the target corridor of the previous guidance for both key figures. EBITDA nevertheless more than doubled compared to the previous year.

At the same time, assets under custody increased to € 9.2 billion by the end of 2022 (compared to €8.6 billion at the end of June 2022 and €8.8 billion at the end of 2021). In addition, more than 30,000 new securities accounts were opened during the course of the year - despite the significantly reduced marketing expenses for new customer generation, in anticipation of the upcoming relaunch of the Company’s Next Generation Broker. Following the product launch of Smartbroker 2.0 and the migration of existing customers onto the new IT infrastructure, customer growth will again be prioritized.

Launch of Smartbroker 2.0 and modernization of wallstreet-online.de planned

For CEO André Kolbinger and the entire management, the introduction of Smartbroker 2.0 remains the top priority. In parallel, the Company will launch various other strategic initiatives in the media business in 2023. These include, among others, the introduction of new paid media products as well as the further development of the financial news portal wallstreet-online.de and the associated apps. New premium offers, including actionable recommendations from a dedicated editorial team, are to open up further target groups and thus drive the diversification of revenue sources. In addition, wallstreet:online will refresh its brand identity and optimize its  technologies and communication channels. The Company promises its audience a new "look & feel" and an enhanced user experience.

The preliminary figures for the 2022 financial year will be published together with the 2023 guidance in March. The audited 2022 financial statements are to follow in mid-July.

About the Smartbroker Group 

The Smartbroker Group operates the Smartbroker – a multiple award-winning online broker, which is the only provider in Germany to combine the extensive product range of traditional brokers with the extremely favourable conditions of neo brokers. In addition, the Group operates four high-reach stock market portals (wallstreet-online.de, boersenNews.de, FinanzNachrichten.de and ARIVA.de). With several hundred million monthly page impressions, the Group is the by far largest publisher-independent financial portal operator in German-speaking countries, and also hosts the region’s largest finance community.

Press contact:

Felix Rentzsch
Head of Communications
Phone: +49 (0)176 4165 0721
Mail: f.rentzsch@smartbroker-holding.de

Investor Relations contact:

Sabrina Kassmannhuber
Head of Investor Relations
Phone: +49 (0)30 20 456 500
Mail: ir@smartbroker-holding.de