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In a meeting on Wednesday, 16 March 2011, the Board of Directors of DnB NOR ASA approved the annual accounts for 2010. The DnB NOR Group's annual report and business review for 2010 have been published on newsweb.no
 (http://www.newsweb.no/newsweb/search.do?siteLanguage=en)The reports are also available on dnbnor.no (https://www.dnbnor.no/corporate/frontpage.html)

DnB NOR achieved a profit of NOK 5 284 million in the fourth quarter of 2010, which is the highest quarterly profit figure in the history of the Group. The strong profits reflect hard work, higher income and low write-downs on loans.  

Profits for the full year 2010 came to NOK 14 062 million. Pre-tax operating profits before write-downs rose from NOK 18 717 million in 2009 to NOK 21 081 million in 2010.

"We set ourselves ambitious financial targets four years ago to achieve, among other things, pre-tax operating profits before write-downs of NOK 20 billion in 2010. Due to the turmoil in the international economy over the last few years, it has been a demanding process to reach this target. I am therefore very happy that recorded profits surpass the target," says Rune Bjerke, group chief executive.

The Group's cost programme had generated annual cost savings of more than NOK 1 600 million at year-end 2010. This more than compensates for wage and price inflation. The programme is ahead of schedule to reach the target of annual cost savings of NOK 2 billion by year-end 2012.
   
Net interest income rose by NOK 803 million or 3.5 per cent from 2009 to 2010. Lending volumes rose by 4.9 per cent from year-end 2009 to end-December 2010.

Lower write-downs
"There was a significant reduction in write-downs in 2010, benefiting both shareholders and customers. While the macroeconomic situation has improved, this also proves that our loan portfolios are of sound quality," says Bjerke.

Write-downs were reduced by 61 per cent, from NOK 7 710 million in 2009 to NOK 2 997 million in 2010. In the fourth quarter, write-downs declined by 65 per cent or NOK 988 million compared with the fourth quarter of 2009. 

Higher dividend
On the basis of the Group's sound performance, the Board of Directors has proposed a dividend of NOK 4.00 per share for 2010. The dividend for 2009 was NOK 1.75.

Improved customer satisfaction
"I am pleased that we are succeeding in two areas that are important to us. We reached our profit targets while also improving our customer satisfaction scores in 2010. This is partly due to the fact that we launched the best housing loans for young people during the year, along with low-priced index funds, which make equity investments simple and easy for everyone. In addition, customers can now reach us by phone 24 hours a day, which is important for many people," says Rune Bjerke.

Bjerke expects continued growth in the Norwegian economy in 2011, which will enable domestic households to benefit from low unemployment and strong purchasing power.

"Looking outside Norway, we expect moderate growth in the global economy, but see that the debt situation in some countries could dampen growth. We anticipate a positive trend in the Baltic region, where we now have a large, wholly-owned banking operation," says Bjerke. 

Full year 2010

Fourth quarter 2010

Comparable figures for 2009 in parentheses.

Contact persons:
Trond Bentestuen, group executive vice president, Corporate Communications, tel.: +47 950 28 448
Thomas Midteide, vice president External Communication, tel.: + 47 962 32 017

The quarterly report, presentation and Supplementary Information for Investors and Analysts can be downloaded from https://www.dnbnor.no/about-us/about-us.html?LA=EN (https://www.dnbnor.no/about-us/about-us.html?LA=EN)

Today, DnB NOR has taken over the German bank NORD/LB's 49 per cent ownership interest in DnB NORD.

Since year-end 2005, DnB NOR ASA (DnB NOR) and Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (NORD/LB) have owned 51 per cent and 49 per cent, respectively, of Bank DnB NORD A/S (DnB NORD). On 2 August 2010, NORD/LB was informed that DnB NOR would exercise its contractual option to acquire NORD/LB's 49 per cent ownership interest in DnB NORD.

The transaction was completed today, and DnB NOR ASA now owns 100 per cent of the shares in
DnB NORD.

 

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements according to Section 5-12 of the Securities Trading Act.

 

DnB NOR has today signed the agreement to acquire the German Bank NORD/LB's 49 per cent ownership interest in DnB NORD.

DnB NOR ASA (DnB NOR) has today signed the agreement with Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (NORD/LB) regarding the acquisition of all shares in Bank DnB NORD A/S (DnB NORD). Since 2005, DnB NOR and NORD/LB have owned 51 per cent and 49 per cent, respectively, of Bank DnB NORD A/S.

Consequently, the reservation regarding final approval from the two owner banks' Boards of Directors no longer applies.

 

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements according to Section 5-12 of the Securities Trading Act.

 

On Wednesday, 15 June 2011, the DnB NOR Group will arrange a Capital Markets Day in Oslo.
Further information about the agenda and practical details will be presented later.

 

This information is subject to the disclosure requirements according to Section 5-12 of the Securities Trading Act.

 

 

DnB NOR has concluded an agreement to acquire the German bank NORD/LB's 49 per cent ownership interest in DnB NORD for a consideration of EUR 160 million in cash.

Since year-end 2005, DnB NOR ASA (DnB NOR) and Norddeutsche Landesbank Girozentrale (NORD/LB) have jointly owned Bank DnB NORD A/S (DnB NORD). On 2 August 2010, DnB NOR exercised its option to acquire NORD/LB's 49 per cent ownership interest in DnB NORD. Since then, the parties have been in negotiations to agree on the consideration for the shares. An agreement has now been reached whereby DnB NOR pays a cash consideration of EUR 160 million to NORD/LB. After the completion of the transaction, DnB NOR will own 100 per cent of the shares in DnB NORD. 

"The Baltic states and Poland have higher growth potential than Western Europe, and DnB NOR wishes to grow within the retail banking segment in these countries to realise its general growth ambitions. We are also seeing clear signs that the macroeconomic situation in the Baltic states is improving, and the Polish economy has been among the strongest in Europe throughout the financial crisis," says Rune Bjerke, group chief executive of DnB NOR. 

As of 30 September 2010, DnB NORD had approximately EUR 10 billion in total assets, 155 branch offices across the four countries where it is present (Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Poland), around 960 000 customers and 3 100 employees. 

DnB NORD will be organised as a division in the business area Large Corporates and International, which is headed by Leif Teksum, group executive vice president. 

"We have already drawn up concrete plans of action to implement a good and efficient integration process. DnB NORD has highly qualified employees in all four markets and we will further strengthen the organisation with competent employees from DnB NOR," says Rune Bjerke. 

The transaction is subject to the approval of the two banks' supervisory boards and the respective national regulatory authorities. 

DnB NOR was advised by J.P. Morgan on this transaction.