Deutsche Bank lowers outlook as revenues disappoint

BERLIN – Deutsche Bank said Friday its net income profit rose 67 per cent in the first quarter, though revenue dropped 9 per cent as proceeds from trading declined sharply. The company lowered its revenue outlook for the year.

Germany’s biggest bank reported details of its January-March earnings a day after it abandoned talks on a possible merger with German peer Commerzbank.

It said net profit was 201 million euros ($224 million), compared with 120 million euros a year earlier.

Revenues dropped to 6.35 billion euros from 6.98 billion euros. The bank said revenues from fixed income sales and trading were off 19 per cent at 1.5 billion euros, while those from equity sales and trading dropped 18 per cent to 468 million euros.

CEO Christian Sewing said that “our continued cost discipline helped us to offset lower revenues.”

However, the bank said that “we expect revenues in 2019 to be essentially flat compared to 2018,” compared with its previous call for a slight increase.

Sewing was tightlipped during a call with analysts on what if any new strategies Deutsche Bank might pursue after dropping the Commerzbank merger talks.

“We will not be drawn on speculation about what other options we have considered, or what options are or are not under ongoing consideration,” he said. “You should also not draw any conclusion from this unwillingness to comment.”

Deutsche Bank shares dropped 4.1 per cent to 7.23 euros in Frankfurt trading.