UNI Banka Skopje is a different story from the larger banking names on the Macedonian Stock Exchange. It is not the largest, it is not the most liquid, and it did not deliver dramatic profit growth in 2025. That is exactly why it deserves a careful look: the stock trades at moderate multiples, the Bank has a stable profit record, and the latest paid dividends create a clear income component for investors.
The new unaudited income statement for the period 01.01 - 31.03.2026 changes the tone of the analysis. FY2025 looked stable, but Q1 2026 shows that stability should not be read as a guarantee of continuous growth. Profit in the first quarter fell sharply, mainly because of higher impairment charges, weaker net fees, and higher personnel costs.
Headline picture: FY2025 was stable, Q1 2026 is a warning
UNI Banka closed FY2025 with net profit of 492,515 thousand denars. That was above 485,767 thousand denars in FY2024, but growth was only 1.4%. The previous year was also modest, with growth of around 1.9%. This meant that the Bank remained profitable, but that the faster earnings-growth phase from FY2022 and FY2023 had already normalized.
Q1 2026 confirms that normalization risk. Profit for the period from January 1 to March 31, 2026 was 56,625 thousand denars, compared with 145,100 thousand denars in Q1 2025. That is a decline of about 61.0%. Profit before tax is the same as net profit because income tax in the report is 0 for both comparison periods.
Key point: UNI Banka still looks capital stable, but Q1 2026 makes the thesis more conservative. This is no longer only a story of stable FY2025 profit and a moderate P/E ratio. It is also a question of whether the Bank can control credit cost and operating expenses in 2026.
Q1 2026: what deteriorated in the income statement?
First, the core revenue engine is slightly weaker. Interest income declined from 390,114 to 385,147 thousand denars, a drop of 1.3%. Interest expense was almost unchanged, at 89,865 thousand denars versus 89,640 thousand denars. The result is net interest income of 295,282 thousand denars, down 1.7% from Q1 2025.
The second pressure point is fees. Fee and commission income increased slightly, but fee and commission expense rose faster. Net fee and commission income fell from 57,755 to 51,401 thousand denars, or roughly 11.0%.
The third and most important hit is credit cost. Impairment losses of financial assets and the special reserve for off-balance-sheet exposure amounted to -127,768 thousand denars, compared with -69,575 thousand denars in Q1 2025. That is an additional negative drag of roughly 58.2 million denars, which by itself explains a large part of the profit decline.
Costs also moved in an unfavorable direction. Personnel expenses increased 15.4%, from 110,640 to 127,694 thousand denars. Depreciation rose 8.7%, while other operating expenses decreased 5.1%. Before impairments, operating profit was about 182.9 million denars, compared with 205.7 million denars one year earlier, a decline of approximately 11.1%.
Balance sheet: loans are growing, but liquidity is lower
The Q1 2026 balance sheet is compared with December 31, 2025. Total assets declined from 31.25 billion to 30.33 billion denars, a drop of about 2.9%. The most visible change is in cash and cash equivalents, which decreased from 6.34 billion to 4.50 billion denars.
However, loans to other customers increased from 20.84 billion to 21.21 billion denars, or 1.8% during the quarter. Investments in securities grew faster, by 16.6%, to 3.87 billion denars.
On the funding side, customer deposits decreased 1.7% to 23.27 billion denars. The loan-to-customer-deposit ratio increased from about 88.1% to 91.1%. This is not an alarm by itself, but it shows that loan growth and lower deposits make the structure somewhat tighter than it was at the end of 2025.
The positive point is that equity continued to grow. Total equity and reserves were 4.33 billion denars, compared with 4.28 billion denars at the end of FY2025. Equity-to-assets is around 14.3%, indicating solid capital support.
Broader trend: FY2025 plateau, weak Q1 2026 start
The cumulative 2025 reports showed an uneven but stable year. Profit was 145.1 million denars in Q1, 203.0 million denars for H1, 339.3 million denars for 9M, and 492.5 million denars for the full year.
In FY2025, quarterly contributions were:
- Q1: 145.1 million denars
- Q2: 57.9 million denars
- Q3: 136.3 million denars
- Q4: 153.2 million denars
Q1 2026 profit of 56.6 million denars looks more like the weak FY2025 Q2 than a normal strong quarter. It should not be annualized mechanically, but it must be treated as a warning: if credit cost remains elevated and net fees keep falling, FY2026 could be materially weaker than FY2025.
Dividend: attractive, but now more dependent on distribution policy
UNI Banka has a clear dividend history over the last several years. The database shows the following payments:
- 2021: 219.78 denars per share
- 2022: 282.97 denars per share
- 2023: 368 denars per share
- 2024: 387 denars per share
The latest dividend in the database is 387 denars per share. At the latest average price of 7,050 denars on April 29, 2026, that implies a trailing dividend yield of around 5.5%. That is attractive if the payout continues, but Q1 2026 makes the question of how much profit the Bank wants and is able to distribute more important.
Important: the dividend case for UNI Banka is real, but it should not be analyzed separately from profitability. If Q1 weakness proves to be the start of a weaker year, the future payout could become more conservative.
Average price and valuation: low multiples, but for a reason
The latest record in the price table is from April 29, 2026, with both average and last price at 7,050 denars. The average price in 2025 was 7,112 denars, while 2026 through late April averaged around 7,089 denars. After the strong rerating from 2023 to 2024, the price has mostly moved sideways.
At the latest database price, market capitalization is roughly 3.85 billion denars. With FY2025 EPS of 902.06 denars, trailing P/E is about 7.8x. According to MSE issuer data, 2025 P/B is 0.94x, and comparing the latest price with book value per share of 7,836.65 denars gives roughly 0.90x book.
The low P/E and price around book value are positive for valuation, but Q1 2026 explains why the market may not be paying a larger premium. If earnings power falls below the FY2025 level, trailing P/E will look cheaper than it really is on a normalized 2026 basis.
Liquidity is another risk. In 2025, out of 246 price-table records, 171 days had zero volume. In 2026 through April 29, 40 out of 73 records had zero volume. With liquidity like this, the quoted price does not always mean an investor can easily enter or exit a larger position.
Financial outlook: from moderately positive to cautiously neutral
Before the Q1 report, the thesis for UNI Banka was relatively simple: stable profit, growing equity, price around book value, and potential dividend yield. After Q1 2026, the outlook has to be more careful.
The positives remain: capital is solid, loans are still growing, valuation does not look aggressive, and the dividend history is useful for income investors. But the negatives are now clearer: net interest income is slightly weaker, net fees are falling, personnel expenses are rising, and impairment losses are heavily pressing profit.
In practice, an investor looking at UNI Banka should monitor three things: whether Q2 2026 shows normalization in impairment losses, whether the Bank can move profit back toward the FY2025 run-rate, and whether the dividend remains high enough to justify limited growth and weak liquidity.
Conclusion
UNI Banka Skopje still looks like a stable, moderately valued banking stock with dividend potential. But Q1 2026 reduces the comfort of the thesis. A 61% decline in profit is too large to ignore, even if one quarter should not be mechanically converted into a full-year forecast.
The cleanest conclusion is disciplined: UNI Banka deserves a place on the watchlist for investors looking for a price around book value and possible dividend income, but the new Q1 number requires a larger margin of safety. The next quarters need to show whether this is a one-off credit-cost hit or the beginning of weaker FY2026 profitability.