|
Halifax shareholders get $2.45B
|
 |
February 18, 1999: 10:30 a.m. ET
Leading U.K. mortgage lender plans to pay out part of its excess capital
|
LONDON (CNNfn) - Halifax, the U.K.'s leading mortgage lender, Thursday reported a 3.4 percent rise in pretax profits and announced plans to pay shareholders a special dividend of 1.5 billion pounds ($2.45 billion).
Under the plan, each of Halifax's 3.6 million ordinary shareholders will receive a cash payment of 62 pence per share.
Last year Halifax repurchased shares valued at 745 million pounds ($1.219 billion) in the largest stock buyback undertaken in any single year in the U.K.
"Returning capital to our shareholders is the right thing to do," Halifax chairman Jon Foulds said in a statement. "Under our proposal, shareholders receive cash now and the prospect of a better return on capital in the future."
Separately, Halifax said 1998 profits before tax and exceptional items rose to 1.705 billion pounds ($2.79 billion), up 3.4 percent from 1997. Profits for final six months of the year were 862 million pounds ($1.410 billion).
Halifax said it accounted for 12 percent of all new savings accounts opened in the U.K. last year
Just two years ago Halifax transformed itself from a building society into a retail banking firm.
Today, with more than 20 million customers, the company is keen to build up a new array of non-mortgage-related businesses, from insurance, to consumer credit loans and pension plans.
Shares of Halifax (HFX) were up 9-1/2 pence, or 1.23 percent, at 781-1/2 on the FTSE Thursday afternoon.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Halifax
|
Note: Pages will open in a new browser window
External sites are not endorsed by CNNmoney
|
|
|
|
 |
|
