Preliminary figures from Aareal bank shows that its consolidated operating profit for the 2017 financial year came to €328 million, after a result of €366m in 2016. That placed in right in the middle of its target corridro of €310m €350m. The bank’s management will be proposing a dividend of €2.50 per share (up from €2.00 per share for the previous year) at the next annual meeting of the bank in May. This is equivalent to a distribution ratio of 78 per cent.
“Once again, Aareal Bank Group demonstrated in 2017 that it is well able to deal with a difficult environment, and once again delivered on its promises: we reached our financial objectives and met our forecasts. As we can see from all the material indicators, our Company is perfectly healthy”, said CEO Hermann Merkens in a letter to shareholders. “But also the diverse initiatives that we launched to further develop the business models of both segments as part of our ‘Aareal 2020’ programme for the future are increasingly showing a positive effect.”
