Julius Baer Gruppe Namen

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the Julius Baer 2025 half-year results presentation for media. I am Sandra, the chorus call operator. I would like to remind you that all participants have been listened only mode and the conference has been recorded. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A session. You can register for questions at any time by pressing star and 1 on your telephone. For operator assistance, please press star and 0. The conference must not be recorded for publication or broadcast. At this time, it's my pleasure to hand over to Stefan Bollinger, CEO. Please go ahead, sir.

Thank you, Sandra, and good morning. We appreciate you taking the time today to join me and our CFO, Evi Kostakis. As many of you have already reviewed our press release and dialed in into our analyst and investor presentation, I'll only briefly reiterate the key points before we go into Q&A. The half year results of 2025 demonstrate that we have good momentum and are moving into the right direction in our transformation and growth journey. Net new money more than doubled year on year and underlying net profit increased by 11% year on year, reflecting the progress we are making in unlocking growth and cost efficiency. Underlying operating income increased by 5% year-on-year and our underlying cost income ratio improved to 68.2%. We are ahead of plan to achieve our 130 million Swiss franc additional cost savings on a run rate basis by the end of 2025. Our balance sheet also remains strong and liquid and will continue to be well capitalized. Two one-off items, the loan loss allowance communicated in May and the sale of our Brazilian onshore business impacted our IFRS net profit, resulting in a year-on-year decrease of 35%. The credit review being carried out by our new Chief Risk Officer is continuing and is expected to be completed in the next few months. Since our last update in the interim management statement in May, there has been no need to book further loan loss allowances. We have a clear strategic agenda and we are now in full execution mode. Evi and I are now happy to take your questions.

We will now begin the question and answer session. Anyone who wishes to ask a question may press star and 1 on the touch-tone telephone. You will hear a tone to confirm that you have entered a queue. If you wish to remove yourself from the question queue, you may press star and 2. Participants are requested to use only handsets while asking a question. Anyone who has a question may press star and 1 at this time. Once again to ask a question please press star followed by one. First question comes from Oliver Hirt from Reuters. Please go ahead.

Yes, good morning again. Just looking at the share price, it collapsed after you said that you kind of did want to commit to a share buyback anytime soon, not maybe even next year. Is this the right context to see this in, or do you see another reason for the share price drop?

I haven't followed the share price as close as you, but from my point of view, But share buyback is something that is just a timing issue and we're fully committed to do share buybacks over time and the timing of that, as we said before, is just outside of our control. Thank you.

Once again, to ask a question, please press star followed by one. So far, there are no questions from the phone. Back over to you for any closing remarks.

Great. Thank you. Let me just reiterate a few things from the highlights of the first half. We more than doubled net new money. Our underlying net profits grew double-digit, driven by the trust of our clients, the commitment of our people, and our relentless focus on delivering exceptional wealth management services. We have a clear strategic agenda, are fully committed to it, and we are now in execution mode. I'm encouraged by the positive momentum in our core business, which is a testimony of our continued focus on our clients and risk management. Our disciplined approach will enable us to deliver on our mid-term targets as we progress to unleash the full potential of Julius Baer. If you have any further questions, please contact our media relations team. Thank you again and have a great summer break.

Ladies and gentlemen, the conference is now over. Thank you for choosing Kuroskoll and thank you for participating in the conference. You may now disconnect the lines. Goodbye.