grenke reports €1.6bn in new leasing business in H1 2025

grenke AG, a global financing partner for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), announced strong growth in its leasing operations, generating €1.6 billion in new business in the first half of 2025. The company saw a robust 9.8% year-on-year increase in leasing new business in the second quarter alone, totalling €867.4 million, up from €790.3 million in Q2 2024.

Profitability also strengthened, with Contribution Margin 2 (CM2) rising by 13.5% to €148.6 million (Q2 2024: €130.9 million). grenke’s CM2 margin climbed to 17.1%, surpassing the company’s full-year target of over 16.5%.

“The first half of the year reconfirms the strategic strength of our high degree of diversification – not only in terms of our object portfolio but also our geographic footprint,” he said. “While smaller countries were the main growth drivers last year, it is now especially our two largest markets, Germany and France, that are the main pillars of our strong new business.”

“With leasing new business of €1.6 billion in the first half year, we are fully on track. The high profitability of our new business, reflected in a CM2 margin of over 17%, sets the foundation for our future earnings.”

Strong regional and sector growth

Southern Europe led regional performance in Q2 2025, with leasing new business up 10.8% to €218.6 million, contributing 25.2% of total volume. Italy remained the largest market in the region, representing 14.4% of all leasing business.

Western Europe (excluding DACH) followed closely with €215.6 million in new leasing volume (+9.3%), with France alone accounting for 19% of the total. The DACH region (Germany, Austria, Switzerland) grew by 14.6% to €209.4 million, making Germany the single largest market with a 19.5% share of total new business.

Northern and Eastern Europe recorded a slight decline of 1.1%, totalling €162.8 million, while other regions, including the USA, Canada, and Australia, grew significantly by 25.6% to €61.0 million.

Technology continues to dominate

IT equipment, including laptops, software, and other IT solutions, remained the largest lease object category, accounting for 26.3% of total contracts. grenke processed approximately 176,000 lease applications in Q2, resulting in 88,000 new contracts and maintaining a stable conversion rate of just over 50%. The average lease size was €9,845.

Direct sales also played a growing role, increasing to 17.4% of total new business, particularly driven by strong activity in the DACH region.

Banking and factoring developments

grenke Bank’s deposit business also showed positive momentum, reaching €2.36 billion by June 30, 2025, a 6% increase since the end of 2024. The lending business, primarily comprising microcredit products, grew by 15.3% to €10.4 million in Q2.

Factoring activity, however, declined 8.9% to €208.3 million in the quarter. The drop reflects grenke’s previously announced strategy to divest its factoring operations, with an agreement already signed and staged closings underway.