Danske Bank today beat fourth-quarter pretax profit expectations, warned of a lower net result in 2018 but said it planned to increase its dividend payouts.
The bank said its pretax profit of 6.73 billion crowns topped the 6.45 billion expected by analysts in a Reuters poll.
This year, Denmark's largest bank said it expected a net profit of 18 to 20 billion Danish crowns, down from a record-high 20.9 billion 2017 net result.
Analysts have forecast a 2018 result of 19.9 billion.
"We experienced a positive development across our business units, which in many areas led to good increases in the number of customers and lending," chief executive Thomas Borgen said in a statement regarding the final quarter of 2017.
Danske's board proposed a dividend of 10 crowns per share, roughly in line with the 10.1 crowns expected by analysts.
The bank said that in future it would raise its dividend payout ratio to 40-60% of net profit from 40-50%.
It also announced a share buyback programme of 10 billion crowns this year, roughly in line with the 9.84 billion expected by analysts.
It said it aims "to rank in the top three among major Nordic peers in terms of return on shareholders' equity".
Formerly it had said it would aim for a return on shareholders' equity of 12.5%.
The bank has had a run of strong quarters, helped by Denmark's low interest rates, rising house prices and improved profitability in the farming sector.
In November, Danske raised its 2017 net result guidance for the second time to the 19-21 billion crowns range.
Meanwhile, Terry Browne, country manager and head of corporate and institutional banking at Danske Bank Ireland, said that 2017 was another year of solid progress for its corporate and institutional business.
"Key drivers were increased activity in Ireland by our Nordic multinational clients and the expanding global footprint of our corporate and institutional clients," Mr Browne said.
As always, our performance has been sustained by the continued success of our clients as they leverage the opportunities in the current marketplace, both at home and abroad," he added.
