Sparebanken Vest's board of directors proposed a dividend of 3.75 Norwegian kroner per equity certificate for 2017, down from 4.50 kroner per certificate a year ago.
The board said it will recommend that the dividend be paid in cash or in equity certificates. If the dividend will be paid in equity certificates, the board said it will propose a 2% discount to the volume-weighted market price on the last five days of the subscription period, with further conditions of the equity certificates proposal to be given after the board has processed the final annual accounts.
The Norwegian lender posted fourth-quarter 2017 pretax profit of 463 million kroner, up from 361 million kroner a year earlier, but said full-year pretax profit fell to 1.84 billion kroner fom 1.96 billion kroner in 2016, although it noted that the year-ago result benefited from nonrecurring effects.
Sparebanken Vest earlier outlined changes to its dividend policy, under which it will seek to pay out an equal share of profit to equity certificate holders and the owners of its primary capital, with effect from 2018. The cash dividend will be between 25% and 50% of the equity certificate holders' share of profit, with the 2018 dividend expected to be in the lower part of the interval.
The 2017 dividend corresponds to a distribution percentage of 74.4% of the equity certificate holders' share of profits, compared to 71.9% in 2016.
As of Jan. 31, US$1 was equivalent to 7.70 Norwegian kroner.
