During the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders today, Van Lanschot announced that it expects to report growth in earnings per share for 2006 of at least 10%.
"Based on the first four months of the year, 2006 has made a promising start," according to Floris Deckers, Chairman of the Board of Managing Directors of Van Lanschot NV. "Favourable stock market developments have led to more securities transactions by private investors. The net inflow of new funds continued at the good level of the final months of 2005. However, the interest margin remained under strong pressure. Furthermore, we are facing a higher level of operating expenses in 2006 compared with last year due to an increase in staff costs and higher budgeted costs of the IT project. Taken together, the developments in the first four months of 2006 give us confidence for the year as a whole. At this point in time, we expect earnings per share for 2006 to increase by at least 10%."
This profit forecast is based on the amount available to shareholders for 2005 of € 4.99 per share. The forecast excludes the impact of the release of the provision for healthcare insurance premiums of € 19.7 million gross announced in March.
Refocused strategy
During the Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, Mr Deckers also presented the refocused strategy of the bank geared towards the interests of the clients and other stakeholders of Van Lanschot. As part of this strategy, new ambitious financial targets were announced, as summarised below.
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Former financial targets
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New financial targets
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Annual EPS growth of 10% on average |
Annual EPS growth of at least 10% |
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Annual revenue growth of at least 5% |
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Return on equity of 15% on average |
Return on equity of 18% on average |
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Efficiency ratio of between 50% - 60% |
Efficiency ratio of between 50% - 60% |
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Capital ratios:
BIS total capital ratio of at least 10% |
Capital ratios:
BIS total capital ratio of 12.5%
Tier 1 ratio of 9.5%
Core tier 1 ratio of 7.5% |
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Single A rating from at least 2 rating agencies |
Single A rating from at least 2 rating agencies |
The complete PowerPoint presentation given by Mr Deckers will be available on the bank's website (www.vanlanschot.com) as from 4pm this afternoon. The presentation can be found on the English website under the links Investor relations / Financial information / Presentations.
The press release can be downloaded from the following link:
