VP Bank in capital markets

VP Bank’s registered shares A are listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange; the registered shares B are not listed. The number of VP Bank’s listed shares remained unchanged at 6,015,000 in 2017. The market capitalisation of registered shares A combined with the market value of registered shares B totalled CHF 879.9 million at year-end 2017, up approximately 23 per cent from the previous year (CHF 714.0 million).

On the Zurich exchange where they are listed, VP Bank shares had a trading volume of 1,224,226 shares in 2017, representing average daily volume of 4,877 shares. 

In 2017, VP Bank shares added to the previous year’s strong gains and were again among the clear winners on the Swiss Stock Exchange. They rose by 27.3 per cent (including dividends), thereby outpacing the broader Swiss equity market and the Swiss banking sector. They fell to a low of CHF 105.0 in February and reached a high of CHF 141.9 in October. The registered share A closed the year at CHF 133.0 for an average price of CHF 122.28 during the year. According to a December 2017 study by Zürcher Kantonalbank (ZKB), VP Bank shares are among the favourites of Swiss equity analysts for 2018.

VP Bank strives to maintain a steady dividend approach, with a goal of paying out 40 per cent to 60 per cent of consolidated net income to shareholders. In May 2017, VP Bank paid a dividend of CHF 4.50 per registered share A, which represented a dividend yield of 4 per cent at the time. That dividend was based on 2016 consolidated net income totalling CHF 58.0 million.

VP Bank strives to keep market participants informed of the latest developments in a timely and optimal manner. Its investor relations efforts are designed to foster an open, ongoing dialogue with shareholders and other capital markets participants by providing them with a true and fair view of VP Bank Group. 

The tasks include holding discussions with analysts and investors, disclosing ad hoc information regarding business issues of relevance under securities law, producing the company’s annual and interim reports, releasing the related financial results and organising the annual general meeting of shareholders.

VP Bank’s Investor Relations department is responsible for ensuring the Group’s “corporate language”, i.e. a common language used both inside and outside the company in order to speak to all target audiences in one voice. Through the corresponding interfaces, VP Bank ensures that consistent company information is disseminated across the various publications platforms.

In 2017, VP Bank’s management met with analysts and investors individually and in groups, held conference calls and completed two respective road shows in the spring and autumn. Analyst meetings were held following the presentation of the annual and interim results in Zurich. 

On 18 May 2017, under the motto “New challenges – New business opportunities”, VP Bank invited investors as well as other participants in the worlds of finance, business, politics and the media to the “VP Finance Dialogue 2017” conference. Adrian Hasler, Prime Minister of the Principality of Liechtenstein, was the keynote speaker. “VP Bank Finance Dialogue 2017” was the third event of this type and once again contributed to our goal of promoting an open and on-going dialogue on current events.

VP Bank provides extensive information on the Group and its shares on the company’s website. Annual and interim reports, letters to shareholders, presentations and regulations are available online and can be downloaded, thereby enabling the broadest possible accessibility and distribution of information. This information can always be found at www.vpbank.com / Investors & Media. Investors and stakeholders can also find information on the latest developments on social media platforms such as Twitter and LinkedIn.

VP Bank’s published annual and interim reports help enhance communications with institutional and private investors. These reports are complemented by the www.vpbank.com website and reports posted online at https://vpbank.wsc.ch along with all current infor­mation. Since 2015, the interim annual report is also available in an online version. 

The continuing development of VP Bank Group’s annual and interim reports in accordance with international trends and legal requirements is taken seriously; the overarching design theme of the most recent annual report focused on “digitalisation”. 

VP Bank Group’s 2016 annual report received a total of eight international awards, recognising the outstanding quality of the VP Bank’s communications policy and again demonstrating its creative design prowess. At the “ARC Awards”, VP Bank’s annual report was entered alongside nearly 2,000 other submissions from 33 countries and received a gold award (“Best of Category”) for the impactful illustrations. The “Arc Awards” have been handed out in the United States for more than 30 years. 

The annual report won a silver medal in the “Best Annual Report – Print” category of the U.S.-based “Stevie Awards”. Other awards included the “Galaxy Award” and the “Vision Award” from the League of American Communications Professionals (LACP). The outstanding design quality of VP Bank’s report was also recognised in Germany in the well-known Red Dot Design Award.

The online version of the 2016 VP Bank annual report also received international recognition, including two gold medals from the LACP Vision Awards und ARC Awards, respectively. As part of the “Swiss Annual Report Ratings”, a jury of communications and finance professionals again ranked VP Bank Group’s print and online design in the top 15 for reports from Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

VP Bank’s 54th Ordinary Annual General Meeting on 28 April 2017 in Vaduz was attended by 416 shareholders, who approved all of the resolutions proposed by the Board of Directors. Shareholders represented at the meeting accounted for 75.72 per cent of all shares outstanding. 

For the first time and as part of its digitalisation strategy, VP Bank sent shareholders a notice of meeting electronically and also gave them the possibility of casting electronic votes on agenda items. Some shareholders made use of this online voting option. 

The next ordinary annual general meeting will be held on 27 April 2018.

VP Bank maintains regular contacts with analysts from rating agencies and informs them continuously about business trends in order to ensure the most accurate valuation possible. 

VP Bank is one of the few private banks in Liechtenstein and Switzerland to be rated by an international rating agency. In March 2017 Standard & Poor’s confirmed VP Bank’s “A–” rating and raised its outlook from “stable” to “positive”. In August the rating and outlook were confirmed. This confirmation took into account prudent risk management, the stable ownership structure, sound liquidity and the very strong equity position, and it underscores VP Bank Group’s solid and successful business model.

Standard & Poor’s current ratings report can be downloaded from the VP Bank website in the “Investors & Media” section.

VP Bank shares are also followed by analysts from MIRABAUD Securities LLP (recommendation: buy) and Zürcher Kantonalbank (recommendation: overweight).

1. Including registered shares B
2. As of 2 March 2017

The Legal Entity Identifier (LEI) is a uniform global system that clearly identifies financial market participants. The 20-character code provides security and transparency for all parties. As from 3 January 2018, with the entry into force of the MiFID II directive, all companies conducting securities transactions must have an active LEI number. The code includes key reference information that makes it easy to know the participants in a transaction and represents a control mechanism to prevent market abuse and fraud.

Further information on VP Bank’s capital structure and core shareholders can be found in the section “Corporate governance”, page 77 ff.

Tanja Muster · Head of Group Communications & Marketing

T +423 235 66 55 · F +423 235 65 00

www.vpbank.com → Investoren & Medien