SEB's operating result for 2007 amounted to SEK 17.0bn, an increase
of 9 per cent compared with the operating result for 2006, which was
SEK 15.6bn. Return on equity was 19.3 per cent. At the same time
shareholders' equity has been further strengthened and the core
capital ratio was 8.6 per cent. The Board of Directors proposes that
the dividend per share be increased by SEK 0.50, to SEK 6.50.
Income increased by 4 per cent, lending by 12 per cent and deposits
by 17 per cent, while mutual fund and custody volumes reached their
highest levels ever during the year. Continued productivity
improvements led to cost efficiency gains of SEK 546m. Annual costs
rose by 3 per cent.
Valuation losses in the bond portfolios for the full year amounted to
SEK 1.8bn on the profit and loss account and to 0.7bn on
shareholders' equity. The credit quality of these portfolios is still
very high.
SEB's President and Group Chief Executive Annika Falkengren comments
on today's annual accounts: "The past year was characterised by high
customer activity, but also by financial market turbulence. The
strong result that we present today shows a two-digit profit growth
within three of our four business divisions. We continue our efforts
to create a strong cost culture in order to free-up resources in our
business. We stick to our strategy of strengthening our customer
offerings, realising efficiency gains and investing in growth areas.
With our strong balance sheet we are well positioned for generating a
continued good profit growth also in 2008."
The whole annual accounts report is available under the attached
link, and at under www.sebgroup.com.
SEB is a North European financial group serving some 400,000
corporate customers and institutions and five million private
individuals. SEB has a local presence in the Nordic and Baltic
countries, Germany, Ukraine and Russia, and a global presence through
its international network in another ten countries. On 31 December
2007, the Group's total assets amounted to SEK 2,344bn while its
assets under management totalled SEK 1,370bn. The Group has about
20,000 employees. Read more about SEB at www.sebgroup.com.
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Further information information, please contact:
Per-Arne Blomquist, CFO, phone: +46 8 22 19 00
Ulf Grunnesjö, Head of Investor Relations, +46 8 763 85 01; +46
70 763 85 01
Annika Halldin, Financial Information Officer, +46 763 85 60; +46
70 379 00 60
