Deutsche Börse ETR: DB1 raised its full-year outlook for a second time after reporting broad-based revenue growth, expanding margins and a return to year-over-year growth in its treasury result during the third quarter of 2026.
Chief Executive Officer Stephan Leithner said net revenue excluding treasury income increased 14% from a year earlier in the quarter, accelerating from 9% growth in the second quarter. Six of the group’s eight businesses delivered double-digit growth, with roughly three-quarters of the increase attributed to underlying business fundamentals rather than market conditions.
“The business can deliver high single-digit growth on its own and can move clearly into double digits when the market conditions are supportive,” Leithner said. He cited buy-side transformation, euro fixed-income infrastructure, fund outsourcing, collateral management and demand for capital-markets infrastructure as key structural contributors.
The company also benefited from stronger derivatives activity in September, which management linked to synchronized rate hikes by the European Central Bank and the Federal Reserve. Leithner said the supportive market environment had continued into the fourth quarter.
Guidance Raised as Treasury Income Turns Higher
For the first nine months, net revenue excluding treasury income rose 12% to bring total revenue excluding treasury results to approximately EUR 4.9 billion. EBITDA excluding treasury income increased 17%, while the EBITDA margin reached 61%.
Net profit attributable to Deutsche Börse shareholders rose 14% to EUR 1.7 billion in the first nine months, while cash earnings per share increased 14% to about EUR 10, Chief Financial Officer Jens Schulte said.
In the third quarter, treasury income rose 7% year over year to EUR 218 million, marking its first annual increase since 2024. The company now expects treasury income to exceed EUR 0.8 billion for the full year, compared with prior guidance for more than EUR 0.7 billion.
Deutsche Börse confirmed its outlook for approximately EUR 5.7 billion in net revenue excluding treasury income, while saying results could slightly exceed that amount. Schulte said the company’s internal expectation, consistent with sell-side consensus, was between EUR 5.7 billion and EUR 5.8 billion. Total net revenue is now expected to exceed EUR 6.5 billion, while total EBITDA is projected at approximately EUR 3.9 billion.
The company maintained its forecast for operating-cost growth of around 3%, excluding exceptional costs tied to the proposed Allfunds acquisition. Operating costs rose 7% in the third quarter, primarily because share-based compensation increased EUR 22 million year over year due to share-price movements. Excluding that effect and EUR 4 million of Allfunds-related exceptional costs, underlying cost growth was 3%.
Derivatives and Fund Services Drive Growth
Trading and clearing revenue excluding treasury income increased 19% to EUR 652 million, while segment EBITDA excluding treasury income rose 36%. Financial derivatives revenue jumped 30% to EUR 357 million, led by a 48% increase in fixed-income derivatives revenue to a record EUR 181 million.
Management said the fixed-income performance reflected both structural and cyclical factors. In over-the-counter clearing, notional outstanding exceeded EUR 60 trillion for the first time, rising 25%, and Deutsche Börse’s market share in euro-denominated OTC clearing products reached 24%. The number of onboarded clients reached 2,600, with an activation rate of 20%.
Schulte said OTC clearing grew 40%, aided by increased buy-side client engagement, less pre-clearing netting, changes to partnership-program terms and underlying franchise growth. Repo remains “broadly EUR 100 million business,” according to Jan Strecker, head of investor relations, and is benefiting from demand for collateralized money-market transactions.
Commodities revenue returned to growth, rising 11% after a second-quarter normalization. Power derivatives volumes rose 25%, while EEX expanded order-book trading in Japan to cover Asia-Pacific business hours. Schulte described Japan as a low-double-digit-million revenue business currently, but said its medium-term opportunity was significant because Japan’s underlying energy market is larger than Germany’s.
Fund services revenue excluding treasury income climbed 18% to EUR 144 million, supported by record assets under custody of more than EUR 5.2 trillion and approximately EUR 950 billion in assets under distribution. Security services revenue rose 10% to EUR 288 million, with custody assets approaching EUR 18 trillion. Collateral-management revenue rose 22% to EUR 34 million.
SimCorp, ISS STOXX and Allfunds
Within investment management solutions, software solutions revenue increased 10% to EUR 173 million. SaaS revenue grew 13% and on-premise revenue rose 11%. Annual recurring revenue reached EUR 727 million, up 13% in constant currency and 15% on a reported basis.
Schulte said close to 30 new client and expansion deals had been signed year to date. About 45% of third-quarter ARR growth came from new clients and 55% from expansions of existing relationships. Management reiterated its expectation for around 10% full-year software-solutions revenue growth, citing a strong pipeline.
Leithner said the first component of a Tier 1 EMEA client expansion delayed from the second quarter had been signed in the third quarter. He said the company remained confident in its fourth-quarter pipeline despite a demanding comparison with the prior year.
ESG and index revenue grew 4%, as 16% index-revenue growth offset a small decline in corporate solutions and a mid-single-digit decline in market intelligence. Segment EBITDA fell to EUR 88 million, partly due to an EUR 18 million negative valuation effect on Deutsche Börse’s minority investment in Clarity AI, which has been sold to Glass Lewis.
On Allfunds, Leithner said regulatory pre-notification work with the European Commission was progressing and a formal filing was expected “in the near term.” The company said completion in the first half of 2027 remained on track from its perspective.
Digital Assets and European Capital Markets
Management also highlighted opportunities tied to European pension reforms, retail investing and digital securities. Leithner said national initiatives intended to shift savings toward capital-markets products could support demand across trading, funds, clearing, settlement, custody and market data.
He said the European Central Bank’s Pontes initiative provides a wholesale digital central-bank-money settlement component that can connect to Clearstream’s digital securities infrastructure. Luxembourg recently issued a EUR 1.7 billion digital ledger technology bond using the infrastructure, according to Leithner.
Leithner said digital issuance was not expected to reduce fee income relative to traditional issuance and could generate greater activity over time through increased flexibility, instant settlement and smaller-scale issuance. He added that the instruments have been usable as ECB collateral since June, while collateral mobility remains a priority for Deutsche Börse.
About Deutsche Börse (ETR:DB1)
Deutsche Börse AG operates as an exchange organization in Europe, America, and the Asia-Pacific. The company operates through four segments: Data & Analytics; Trading & Clearing; Fund Services; and Securities Services. It engages in the trading of derivatives, electricity and gas products, emission rights, foreign exchange, and commodity products; operating EEX and 360T over the counter trading platform for financial instruments, such as foreign exchange, money market, and interest rate products; and operating as a central counterparty.
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