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Dear ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the publication of MLP regarding the results Q1 2021. At the customer's request, this conference will be recorded. [Operator Instructions] May I now hand you over to Andreas Herzog, who will start the conference today. Please go ahead, sir.
Thank you, operator. Welcome to our Q1 conference call. With me is our Chief Financial Officer, Reinhard Loose. Reinhard will firstly comment on business development in the first quarter. And afterwards, we will be happy to answer your questions. So now I would like to hand over to you, Reinhard.
Thank you, Andreas, and good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. MLP Group has been able to continue its successful performance of previous months in the opening quarter of 2021. We recorded broad-based growth in revenue and were able to more than double our EBIT. The first quarter shows just how dynamically MLP is developing despite the ongoing restrictions associated with combating the coronavirus pandemic. The close and intensive support that our clients receive in all parts of the MLP Group has been and remains the key here. Performance in wealth management is particularly pleasing. And let me underline this by one key figure, assets under management. In comparison with the 31st of December 2020, this figure rose by around 13%, setting a new record and bringing the EUR 50 billion mark even closer. At the same time, we are continuing to make extensive investments in our future and have thereby laid the foundations for the next jump in earnings 2022. You can find an overview on revenue development on Slide 5 of the presentation. Total revenue increased by 14% to EUR 221.4 million and thereby reached its highest level in the group structure with the sale of our own insurance companies. This EUR 212.4 million commission income, it is revenue from commission and fees increased significantly and represented the greatest share of this positive development. The next slide shows the familiar long-term comparison of commission income performance, excluding old-age provision. This once again makes it very clear just how successful our diversification efforts have been. MLP has continuously diversified its revenue base so that the areas aside from old-age provision have been recording average annual growth of around 10.3% since 2005. The broad-based growth in revenue was driven by virtually all consulting periods in the first quarter. Revenue in wealth management increased by 40% to EUR 77.3 million over the same period of the previous year. Alongside this significant increase in assets under management and further growth in terms of new business, the basis for this was established by a substantial increase in performance fees. Performance-linked compensation is accrued for the positive performance of investment concepts in wealth management and are largely recognized in income. MLP also recorded strong gains in real estate brokerage. In association with DEUTSCHLAND.Immobilien, we achieved a significant increase in revenue of EUR 8.7 million here. The increase in revenue of almost 16% can also be attributed to the fact that more and more MLP consultants are successfully moving the topic of real estate within the scope of our integrated consigning services. We also gained significant ground in loans and mortgages, where revenue was up 12%. This also shows that demand for real estate remains high and that our consultants have established themselves as competent partners for this topic with their customers. In the opening quarter, MLP also achieved growth in health insurance, where revenue rose by 8% and in non-life insurance, where it was up 4%. The increase In the traditional important first quarter reflect gains both at the subsidiary DOMCURA and in MLP's private client business, following declines throughout 2020 due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic development in the old-age provision field stabilized. Other key figures also displayed positive development in the first 3 months. Indeed, as of the 31st of March, we were able to increase the group's assets under management to a new all-time high of EUR 48.2 billion. The group benefited from inflows at both FERI and MLP Banking here. This can, in particular, be attributed to an increase in assets under management and alternative investments such as hedge funds and private equity, yet also volatility strategies. With the expertise of one of the largest teams of specialists in Germany, FERI currently has alternative assets of around EUR 12.3 billion under management. In addition, this advisory service is embedded in the entire competence landscape at FERI. We were able to increase the non-life insurance portfolio volumes managed by the MLP Group to EUR 434.4 million by 31st March 2021. This is similar to the levels held by medium-sized non-life insurers. The past quarter, we took another strategic step in this regard with the acquisition of RVM and the ongoing expansion of the industrial insurance broker segment associated with this. At our annual press conference, we already addressed the 2-pronged premise, which always guides our actions when we are seeking to expand the MLP Group through acquisitions. Accordingly, any company that we acquire requires a strong business model of its own and must be capable of making a sustainable profit contribution, while at the same time, offering potential for increased synergy with the MLP Group. I brought the slide that outlines this basic concept with me once again here today. Following the successful closing at the beginning of April, we initially expect a slightly negative effect from the RVM acquisition in our income statement from the second quarter. The background to this is the significant proportion of RVM EBIT is generated in the first quarter of the year due to the seasonal nature of the business. The RVM result in the first quarter of this year will be reflected in our equity on a one-off basis in the second quarter. You can find the current income statement on Page 10. As already reported at the end of April, MLP recorded a significant increase in EBIT to EUR 21.8 million in the opening quarter. Alongside an overall positive operational development, this rise is in particular attributable to an increase in wealth management business, as already described. Added to this fact that expenses -- added to this is the fact that expenses resulting from remeasurement gains or losses and loan loss provisions fell by EUR 2.7 million over the same period of the previous year. In the previous year, the EBIT recorded in the first quarter had been negatively impacted by increased loan loss provisions and revaluations of proprietary investments due to the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. The group net profit generated from January to March 2021 was EUR 15.8 million. The next slide shows you our balance sheet. As of the balance sheet date, shareholders' equity rose slightly from EUR 454 million to EUR 469.3 million. The core capital ratio was 20.2% on the reporting date, meaning that we remain very well positioned. We are anticipating a comparable level over the course of the year. Regarding the development of our consultant numbers. As of the 31st of March 2021, 2,069 client consultants were working for MLP. Compared to the 31st of March 2020, this represents a significant increase. At the same time, typical seasonal dip was observed in the opening quarter. MLP is still anticipating notable gains in the number of client consultants over the financial year. We are keen to continue our highly successful consultant recruitment efforts over the last 3 years, having recorded a significant increase of 105 consultants in 2020. The consignment in the MLP Group was serving 555,200 family clients as of the 31st of March. The gross number of newly acquired family clients was 4,600 in the first quarter and thus, slightly above the same period in the previous year. In addition, we served 22,400 corporate and institutional clients. Ladies and gentlemen, I will now move on to our outlook. MLP still anticipates recording EBIT in the corridor between EUR 55 million and EUR 61 million for 2021. On the revenue side, however, we are adjusting our expectations in wealth management and are now anticipating positive development for the whole year following the very strong first quarter. At the same time, we see risks for our business due to general market conditions and above all, these were issues associated with the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. This is particularly true of old-age provision, which has stabilized, yet still remains short of our target level. We are reaffirming our expectation in real estate brokerage, although growth could also be less dynamic here than forecasted at the start of the year. Overall, following the successful first quarter, the likelihood increases that by the end of the year, we will be in the upper range of our EBIT forecast for 2021. At the same time, however, we are still facing market-related risks if the coronavirus pandemic should have a greater economic impact than is currently foreseeable. We also confirm our midterm planning based on which EBIT is likely to rise to around EUR 75 million to EUR 85 million by the end of 2022. In the last few years, we have established a strong and diverse base for our business, which once again became very clear during the coronavirus pandemic. At the same time, the value drivers we have implemented are continuing to develop as planned. Our investments are increasingly bearing fruit, and we are well underway to reaching our 2022 targets. In other words, the seed was sown for future growth starting to sprout. Ladies and gentlemen, please now allow me to move on to the summary. Firstly, we achieved significant growth in terms of revenue and, in particular, earnings in the first quarter. We can build on this over the rest of the year. Secondly, although the effects of the pandemic continue to present risk, we are in a strong position, thanks to our highly diversified bases and the fact that we enjoy a close relationship with our clients. And thirdly, we are continuing to make good progress in implementing our growth strategy. Many thanks for your time. I'm now happy to take your questions. Operator?
[Operator Instructions] The first question is by Philipp Hassler of Pareto Securities.
Yes, Philipp Hassler from Pareto. I have three questions, please. Firstly, on the health management revenues, which were surprisingly strong in Q1 with an increase of plus 8%, were there any extraordinary reason for this? Or was it due to corona? Secondly, again, on the strong increase of the assets under management in Q1, which you have mentioned, more than EUR 5 billion. So was there also any one-offs related to this? Or was it just strong performance of the underlying assets? And related to this, the usual question of the net inflows in Q1 at FERI and MLP?
Health, definitely, private health insurance we see -- due to the questions, and we started also seeing signs of the last year that due to the overall, let's say, discussions about health due to the pandemic situation, we see more interest in our customer base for private health overall. But this was supported in the first quarter for some, let's say, bonus payments we received by some insurance companies. Therefore, we have some, let's say, more special -- had a special tailwind here, which supported our revenue line. And then coming to your assets under management questions, first, overall, we see a strong increase in inflows on a daily basis here. That means as well in the private customer segment of MLP as for the, let's say, family office in FERI and institutional office that the support and the daily figures are quite impressive. This also was supported by one very, let's say, successful deal, which FERI won. We won and it was also published, we won a contract with [indiscernible], which has a size over some billion euro. And this was also interesting because this deal is concentrating on alternative investments. And therefore, we had to report this year that -- or this time that FERI now has investments, alternative investments, of more than EUR 12 billion in their portfolio. And therefore, let's say, we're quite happy to have this now in our books. And now coming back to, let's say, the normal question of the inflows, I would -- I think, like I always start with the gross numbers, we had inflows of overall around 4.4% in FERI and around EUR 0.5 billion in MLP. And we had outflows of around EUR 0.5 billion at FERI and a little bit less than, let's say, EUR 200 million in MLP, and this altogether underlines the big net increase of the assets overall. And I hope this answers your questions.
[Operator Instructions] There are no further questions, so I hand back to Andreas Herzog.
Well, thank you, operator, and thank you, ladies and gentlemen, for joining our call today. Well, if there are still some questions left or may arise later, please do not hesitate to call our IR team. So thanks a lot, again, and goodbye.
Thank you. Bye-bye.
Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your attendance. This call has been concluded. You may disconnect.