Handelsbanken Earnings Meet Expectations, Lifts Dividend
February 09 2016 - 1:59AM
Dow Jones News
By Dominic Chopping
STOCKHOLM--Svenska Handelsbanken AB (SHB-B.SK), one of the
Nordic region's largest lenders, said Tuesday its fourth-quarter
net profit rose 35% on the year as a large gain from the sale of
shares in an investment helped boost earnings and offset sluggish
net interest income.
Net profit at the Stockholm-based bank rose to 4.50 billion
Swedish kronor ($533.0 million) in the three months ending Dec. 31,
from SEK3.34 billion in the same period a year ago. That was in
line with expectations for SEK4.50 billion, according to an analyst
poll by FactSet.
The board proposes an increase in the ordinary dividend to
SKE6.00 a share, commprising a SEK4.50 ordinary dividend and an
extra dividend of SEK1.50. The company paid a total dividend of
SEK5.83 last year.
Net interest income nudged 1% higher to SEK6.97 billion, from
SEK6.88 billion a year ago, while net gains on financial
transactions was sharply higher at SEK1.50 billion, mainly as a
result of the SEK1.21 billion gain from the sale of its shares in
Svenska Cellulosa AB (SCA-B.SK). Loan losses narrowed to SEK475
million from SEK697 million.
Swedish banks face pressure from negative interest rates,
imposed earlier last year by the central bank to bring inflation
closer to its 2% target. The negative interest rates force banks to
pay to park their customers' deposits overnight at the central
bank.
The common equity Tier 1 ratio--a key measure of financial
strength--was 21.2% at the end of the quarter, up from 20.4% a year
ago.
-Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com; Twitter:
@domchopping @WSJNordics
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
February 09, 2016 01:44 ET (06:44 GMT)
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