wallstreet:online AG: Annual General Meeting resolves to change the company name / Management Board presents “Case Study 2026”

- wallstreet:online AG to be renamed to Smartbroker Holding AG

- Silvia Gromoll appointed to wallstreet:online AG’s Supervisory Board

- New "Case Study 2026" illustrates medium-term growth potential

Berlin, 24 June 2022

The shareholders of wallstreet:online AG (ISIN: DE000A2GS609, FSE: WSO1, the “Company”) approved all agenda items, which were put to the vote, at today's Annual General Meeting (“AGM”) with majorities between 73,64% and 99,99%. 67,24% of the share capital was represented at the virtual AGM.

The AGM approved the Company’s name change with 99,99% of the votes. In addition, tax consultant Silvia Gromoll was elected to the Company’s Supervisory Board for a period of five years, joining the current members André Kolbinger (Chairman), Marcus Seidel and René Krüger. A seat had become vacant after long-serving Supervisory Board member Roland Nicklaus took up the position of Chief Financial Officer in spring 2021. All other agenda items, which were put to the vote, were also approved by shareholders with clear majorities.

Smartbroker’s significance to be reflected in the company name

On 15 June 2022, the AGM of wallstreet:online capital AG resolved to change the company's name to “Smartbroker AG”. wallstreet:online AG, as the sole shareholder of the Smartbroker operating company, shall be renamed "Smartbroker Holding AG". These changes are intended to reflect the greatly increased importance of the group’s own online broker in the company names.

The detailed voting results and the board presentation are available from this afternoon on the wallstreet:online AG website at

Case Study 2026: More than €140 million in revenues & 600,000 securities accounts

During his presentation at the AGM, CEO Matthias Hach presented the Company’s "Case Study 2026" for the first time, outlining medium-term operational and financial objectives for “Smartbroker 2.0”, the Company’s improved transaction product. Hach and his team assume that by the end of 2026, more than 600,000 securities accounts will be live on the evolved Smartbroker 2.0 platform, with client assets under custody exceeding €14 billion. With that, the average account volume would remain at a solid level of around €23 thousand. Depending on the number of transactions, the operational growth would translate to revenues between approx. €140 million and €180 million in 2026, which would correspond to a tripling of turnover compared to 2021 (FY2021: €51.4 million). The planned internalisation of the IT infrastructure and related economies of scale should also enable an increase in EBITDA margin after customer acquisition costs from slightly below 10% in 2021 to approx. 37% in 2026.

This “Case Study 2026" is a scenario calculation subject to various uncertainties, assumptions and risks. These include, in particular, the macroeconomic environment, e. g. the Ukraine war, increasing inflation, rising interest rates, increased energy costs as well as the regulatory environment (especially with regard to chargebacks / payment for order flow). Furthermore, the Company has no prior experience in crypto trading and therefore cannot assess the segment’s development with certainty. Similar qualifications apply to the placement business, CFD trading and the own trading app. In addition, the timing of the receipt of the extended BaFin licence (Bundesanstalt für Finanzdienstleistungsaufsicht - Germany’s federal banking and capital markets supervisory authority) - a necessary prerequisite for the launch of Smartbroker 2.0 - cannot be precisely predicted. In case of a delay, the scenario calculation would have to be adjusted accordingly.

Optimised business model drives all key operational areas

Smartbroker 2.0’s optimised business model is the decisive force driving the growth trajectory outlined in the "Case Study 2026". Following the grant of the extended BaFin licence, the revenue share arrangement with Smartbroker’s partner bank will fall away, and all revenue generated from retail customers and corporate partners will be retained by the Company. The planned launch of the mobile app enables the Company to address new target groups and reduce the average costs for acquiring new customers by incorporating social media channels into the marketing strategy. Furthermore, the Management Board assumes an increase in new account openings and the number of trades per client, based on Smartbroker 2.0's improved web application and own trading app.
 

About the wallstreet:online Group:

The wallstreet:online 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. At the same time, 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 hosts the largest finance community.
 

Press contact:
Felix Rentzsch
Head of Communications
Phone: +49 (0)176 4165 0721
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Investor Relations contact:
Sabrina Kassmannhuber
Investor Relations Manager
Phone: +49 (0)30 20 456 500
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