SinoPac Financial Holdings Co (永豐金控) aims to maintain its dividend payout ratio at 60 percent next year as it is on track to post stable profit growth this year, the company told an investors’ conference in Taipei yesterday.
The company’s net profit for the first three quarters of this year rose 1.1 percent year-on-year to a record NT$12.93 billion (US$421.4 million), while many of its local peers reported double-digit percentage point drops in profit due to sluggish insurance business performance.
“We will strive to keep our payout ratio at 60 percent next year, as we know investors value companies with a stable cash dividend yield,” SinoPac Financial president Stanley Chu (朱士廷) said.
Photo: Kelson Wang, Taipei Times
The company plans to distribute cash and stock dividends next year, chief financial officer Kerry Hsu (許如玫) said.
With retained earnings of NT$26.4 billion as of the end of September, as well as capital adequacy ratio and double leverage ratio standing at 117 percent and 113 percent respectively, the company is confident that it would gain approval from the Financial Supervisory Commission for its planned dividend payouts next year, Hsu said.
The company plans to inject capital of NT$10 billion into Bank SinoPac (永豐銀行) to bolster the banking arm’s financial profile and expand its business scale, Chu said, adding that he expects the bank to earn more interest income next year.
The capital injection is expected to be completed by the end of March next year, the company said.
In the first three quarters, Bank SinoPac’s net profit grew 33 percent annually to NT$12.07 billion as increases in interest income offset declines in net fee income amid shrinking wealth management and credit card businesses.
The bank’s net interest margin rose 10 basis points from a quarter earlier to 1.29 percent at the end of September, while its loans expanded 9.1 percent in the first three quarters, faster than deposits, which rose less than 1 percent during the same period, it said.
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