ING Group Q4 Profit Jumps; Resumes Dividend

(RTTNews) - Dutch banking firm ING Group (ING) Wednesday said its fourth-quarter profit increased significantly from the previous year, despite a slide in revenues. For ING bank, profit dropped due to certain charges and provisions, but underlying result improved. Further, the company announced the reinstatement of dividend payments on ordinary shares. Commenting the year, Ralph Hamers, CEO of ING Group, said, ""We launched our 'Think Forward' strategy, repaid the Dutch State ahead of schedule and moved closer to completing our restructuring plan...Today, I am delighted to announce the reinstatement of dividend payments on ordinary shares with a proposed cash dividend of EUR 0.12 per share...ING Bank posted a strong set of full-year 2014 results, despite some headwinds in the fourth quarter." ING Group offers banking services through its operating company ING Bank and holds significant stakes in insurers NN Group NV and Voya Financial, Inc. Net result was 1.176 billion euros or 0.30 euro per share, including results from discontinued operations of NN Group and Voya. The latest results were supported by the profit on the sale of Voya shares in November 2014 and the strong net result of NN Group. Last year, net result totaled 626 million euros or 0.16 euro per share. The prior-year results have been restated. Total underlying income was 3.756 billion euros, compared to 3.815 billion euros in the prior year. In Retail Banking, total underlying income grew to 2.69 billion euros from 2.56 billion euros, while it slipped to 1.11 billion euros in Commercial Banking, from 1.20 billion euros reported last year. ING Bank's fourth-quarter underlying result before tax fell to 783 million euros from 904 million euros in the prior year, and included negative CVA/DVA impacts, redundancy provisions and the annual Dutch bank tax. Net result from banking dropped to 530 million euros from 666 million euros. Excluding these factors, the underlying result before tax for ING Bank was 1.376 billion, up 20.1 percent, reflecting higher net interest income, lower expenses and lower risk costs. ING Bank's provision for loan losses in the quarter dropped to 400 million euros from 560 million euros a year ago. ING proposes to pay a cash dividend of 470 million euros, or 0.12 euro per ordinary share. The company intends to pay a minimum of 40 percent of ING Group's annual net profits to shareholders, through dividends, effective from 2015. The stock rose 1.5 percent on Tuesday in Amsterdam to close at 11.21 euros.