Nykredit Realkredit A/S reported group net profit of 485 million Danish kroner for the fourth quarter of 2017, down from 1.87 billion kroner in the same period in 2016.
Net interest income fell year over year to 2.23 billion kroner from 2.27 billion kroner, while net fee income rose on a yearly basis to 664 million kroner from 618 million kroner.
The bank booked trading, investment portfolio and other losses of 202 million kroner in the quarter, compared to an income of 654 million kroner a year earlier. Impairment charges for loans and advances reached 930 million kroner, up from 295 million kroner in the year-ago period.
For the 2017 full year, the group's net profit amounted to 8.36 billion kroner, up from 5.33 billion kroner in 2016. Return on equity after tax for 2017 was 10.8%, compared to 8.3% a year earlier.
Nykredit's common equity Tier 1 capital ratio stood at 20.6% at 2017-end, compared to 21.3% at the end of September and 18.8% at 2016-end. The total capital ratio stood at 25.3% at the end of 2017, compared to 25.8% at the end of September 2017 and 23.0% at the end of 2016.
The group proposed a cash dividend of 4.1 billion kroner for 2017, corresponding to 50.7% of profit and its first distribution since 2012.
"Never before have we distributed dividend of this magnitude," CEO Michael Rasmussen said.
The group said it expects business profit for 2018 to be around 6.5 billion kroner to 7.5 billion kroner, while pretax profit is expected to remain at the same level as there are no specific expectations for legacy derivatives. The bank also expects minor reduction in costs in 2018 as a result of its efficiency and restructuring initiatives.
As of Feb. 7, US$1 was equivalent to 6.06 Danish kroner.
