Aareal Bank AG: Non-recurring tax effect burdens financial year 2021

Non-recurring tax effect burdens financial year 2021

As part of a review of a prior fund investment which was sold in 2012, new findings emerged which have a negative impact on Aareal Bank's results for the 2021 financial year amounting to an additional €11 million burden to be recorded in net other operating income for the second quarter of 2021 and a further €26 million to be recognised in the tax position for the 2021 financial year. Aareal Bank will recognise the corresponding provisions in the second quarter of 2021 and adjust the expected tax rate for the full year.

Taking this non-recurring effect into consideration, the operating profit for the second quarter of 2021 will presumably amount to €41 million, significantly above the results of the same quarter of the previous year, which had also been affected by the pandemic (Q2 2020: €2 million). Without this extraordinary charge, the preliminary operating profit would have amounted to €52 million.

Despite comprehensive consideration of the adverse non-recurring effect, Aareal Bank confirms the previously communicated expectations regarding its operating profit for the year 2021 as a whole in a range between €100 million and €175 million.

The expected tax rate, however, will increase during the current financial year. Based on the midpoint of the expected range for operating profit, it should amount to approx. 55%. In case operating profit should trend to the upper end of the target corridor, the expected tax rate would be around 50%, respectively around 60% in case of a trend to the lower end of the range, in both cases corresponding to the relative share of non-tax-deductible components of the results.