The NAGA Group posted its first profitable first quarter today (Thursday), with net profit of €0.5 million, as the Hamburg-based multi-asset fintech behind the Naga One superapp said a leaner cost base and efficiency gains had started to work their way through the business.

Singapore Summit: Meet the largest APAC brokers you know (and those you still don't!)

Group revenue at NAGA came in at €14.4 million, down from €16.4 million a year earlier, though the company said sales were flat year over year once foreign exchange effects were stripped out. EBITDA more than doubled to €2.3 million from €1.0 million, and the margin climbed to 15.8% from 6.1% in Q1 2025.

Net profit of €0.5 million compared with a loss of €1.7 million a year earlier, a swing management framed as proof that operational changes made during 2025 were starting to show up in the numbers.

NAGA Cost Discipline Flips the Loss to Profit

Management attributed the margin step-up to what it described as a more efficient operating model with a structurally lower cost base, supported by technology-led initiatives including AI-driven tools across marketing, customer support and internal processes.

CEO Octavian Patrascu said the company has been "pushing to an AI-first approach" since early in the year, a line he first delivered to investors in February.

NAGA has previously told the market that AI resolves roughly two thirds of its chat-based customer support with no human involvement, and that its marketing department runs with about 20% fewer staff than before, claims the company has not independently substantiated to Finance Magnates.

• NAGA Group Pitches AI-First Model Ahead of Q1 Earnings as Xetra Shares Rebound
• NAGA’s Stock to Shrink Tenfold in Reverse Split, Closing Gap With Peers
• NAGA Group EBITDA Climbs 8% in H1 2025 Despite Higher Marketing Spend

The profit-line improvement comes after a year in which NAGA cited "structural headwinds" to explain a full-year 2025 EBITDA drop to €3.3 million from €9.0 million in 2024. That contrasted with the Q1 2025 comparable, when NAGA's EBITDA had already fallen more than 50% on higher marketing spend.

The EBITDA and net profit figures released Thursday reverse that direction of travel, though from a lower revenue base.

Users Climb, Funded Accounts Slip

On the operational side, NAGA said 87,500 new users registered during the quarter, up from 73,902 in Q1 2025. New funded accounts, however, fell to 4,903 from 6,088, a drop of about 19% that the company said was partly offset by rising net deposits, falling client withdrawals and higher platform activity. NAGA framed the trajectory as a sign of improving client quality.

Reported trading volume reached $80.7 billion, against €47.3 billion in Q1 2025, though the direct comparison is complicated by the change in reporting currency for volumes. March, NAGA said, was the strongest month of the quarter for trading activity and gave the business positive momentum heading into the second quarter.

Competitive Backdrop Leaves NAGA a Small Player

NAGA's numbers read differently once placed next to the larger listed CFD firms reporting around the same time. Plus500, the London-listed broker, booked $242.1 million of Q1 2026 revenue, up 18% year over year, with EBITDA of $95.7 million at a 40% margin. Plus500 also lifted its full-year outlook and said customer deposits hit a record $1.8 billion in the quarter.

IG Group, NAGA's other natural comparator and a direct rival in the UK retail CFD market, raised its cash interest offer to 8.5% last year, double the Bank of England base rate at the time, pressing on the same retained-customer battleground where NAGA pays up to 2.77% APY on idle euros.

NAGA is at a different point in the cycle. The company still operates at a fraction of Plus500's scale, it has yet to return to its 2023 revenue level of around €70 million, and its shares remain well below the highs reached in 2021 even after a 10-for-1 reverse split completed in December 2025.

The stock touched an all-time low of €1.31 on April 9 before rebounding, a trajectory that gave NAGA's AI-first messaging extra weight in recent investor communications.

2026 Guidance Unchanged

Management stuck with the full-year 2026 targets laid out alongside the 2025 annual release, guiding to revenue of €68 million to €75 million and EBITDA of €10 million to €15 million. That would mark a sharp margin recovery if delivered, and would take NAGA close to the revenue level it last reached in 2023.

The company also flagged a newly signed distribution partnership and ongoing white-label discussions that are not yet baked into the numbers, echoing the superapp distribution push that accompanied the Naga One launch late last year.

"Q1 2026 marks an important step forward for NAGA," Patrascu added in the earnings release.