Van Lanschot Kempen today released its 2017 half-year results. Karl Guha, Chairman, said: “Our wealth management strategy generated robust results in the first six months of the year. Our focus on preserving and creating wealth for our private and institutional clients has increased assets under management (AuM) and sparked a 13% advance in commission income. We’re delighted with our takeover of UBS’s wealth management activities in the Netherlands – completed only last week – as it significantly strengthens our position in the market for ultra-high net worth private individuals, family offices and foundations & charities.
“At €62.3 million, our net profit was the strongest half-year performance in many years, while our underlying net result rose to €69.6 million. This was driven in part by the proceeds from the sale of a stake in our portfolio of participating interests and from sales of stakes in our investment funds.
“Combined with our very strong capital base, these results enable us to propose a capital return payment of €1 per share. This represents the next step in realising our ambition to return at least €250 million in capital to our shareholders before the end of 2020.
“Client assets rose to €72.0 billion from €69.4 billion, with Private Banking, Evi and Asset Management all contributing to the increase in AuM from €57.5 billion to €60.1 billion. AuM growth reflects a total €1.6 billion in net inflows and €0.9 billion in positive market performance. Net inflows break down into €1.3 billion at Asset Management and €0.3 billion at Private Banking.
“Evi continues to invest in optimising its service and is seeing its clients increasingly opting to invest rather than save. Merchant Banking enjoyed improved results on last year thanks to a number of successful transactions in the second quarter, while Corporate Banking ran down its portfolio as intended, by nearly €250 million. This has helped to boost our CET I ratioi to 19.6% (year-end 2016: 18.6%).
“Our operating expenses were comparable to last year’s level, despite additional costs related to the Staalbankiers acquisition. The quality of our loan portfolio benefited from the positive economic climate, prompting a net release from loan loss provisions of €1.9 million.”
Proposed return of capital to shareholders of €1 per share
The proposed return of capital of €1 per share – adding up to a total of over €41 million – represents the next step in the implementation of Van Lanschot Kempen´s capital strategy. Van Lanschot Kempen is very pleased to be able to propose this capital return. The aim is to return at least €250 million to shareholders in the period up to and including 2020, subject to the approval of the regulators.
The proposal will be put to a vote at the Extraordinary General Meeting of Shareholders on 11 October 2017. The return of capital will be charged to the proportion of the share premium reserve available for distribution and will therefore be exempt from dividend tax. Total share capital in issue will be unchanged and the CET I ratio will remain well ahead of Van Lanschot Kempen’s capital objective of 15–17% even after the return of capital.
Financial report / Presentation / Webcast
For a detailed discussion of Van Lanschot Kempen’s results and balance sheet, please refer to our financial report and presentation on the 2017 interim results. In a conference call for analysts on 29 August at 9.00 am CET, we will discuss our 2017 half-year figures in greater detail. This may be viewed live and played back at any later date. Please see Financial results 2017.
*Fully loaded, excluding retained earnings. Year-end 2016 including retained earnings.
More information
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