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 registered shares A remained unchanged at 6,015,000 in 2018. The market capitalisation of registered shares A combined with the market value of registered shares B totalled CHF 936 million at year-end 2018, up approximately 9 per cent from the previous year (CHF 799.5 million).

On the SIX Swiss Exchange where they are listed, VP Bank shares had a trading volume of 2,209,971 shares in 2018, representing average daily volume of 8,804 shares. 

VP Bank shareholders enjoyed a very solid first half in 2018. Registered shares A then reached a high of more than CHF 200 twice, once in July and again in August. Following the publication of interim results, it was apparent that a few analysts had been overly optimistic as regards the outlook, and a correction occurred in the second half of August. Share price volatility was relatively high during the summer months. The low was reached on 9 January 2018 (CHF 130.80) and the high on 20 August 2018 (CHF 202.00). The average share price was CHF 161.91 and shares closed the year at CHF 141.40. Including the ­dividend of CHF 5.50 per share, VP Bank’s yield in 2018 was nearly 10 per cent, significantly higher than the share price gains of most other Swiss banks.

VP Bank strives to maintain a steady dividend, with a goal of paying out 40 per cent to 60 per cent of consolidated net income to shareholders. In May 2018, VP Bank paid a dividend of CHF 5.50 per registered share A, representing a dividend yield of 4.1 per cent at the time. That dividend was based on 2017 consolidated net income totalling CHF 65.8 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 2018, VP Bank’s management met with analysts and investors individually and in groups, held conference calls, went on a road show in the spring and participated in two investor conferences in autumn. Analyst meetings were held following the presentation of the annual and interim results in Zurich. 

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 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 / Investors & Media website and the online annual report posted online at https://vpbank.wsc.ch along with all current information. The VP Bank interim annual report is also available in an online version at https://vpbank.wsc.ch/en/semi2018.html.

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 presents VP Bank under the optic of “Clarity”. 

VP Bank Group’s 2017 annual report received a total of seven 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 2,200 other submissions from 34 countries and received a “Grand Award” in the “Best of Europe” category. The Arc Awards have been handed out in the United States for more than 30 years. 

The annual report won a gold medal at the “Vision Awards” sponsored by the League of American Communications Professionals” (LACP) in the United States. Other awards included the “Galaxy Award” and the “Stevie Award” in the United States. 

The online version of the 2017 VP Bank annual report also received international recognition, including silver at the ARC Awards, the LACP Vision Award and the Galaxy Award. As part of the “Swiss Annual Report Ratings” ­sponsored by Harbour Club and Bilanz, a jury of commu­nications and finance professionals also ranked VP Bank Group’s annual report in the top 12 for reports from Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

The successful relaunch of the VP Bank website won a Gold award at the “Stevie Awards”. 

VP Bank’s 55th Ordinary Annual General Meeting on 27 April 2018 in Vaduz was attended by 435 shareholders, who approved all of the resolutions proposed by the Board of Directors. Shareholders represented at the meeting accounted for 73.87 per cent of all shares outstanding. 

VP Bank offers shareholders a notice of meeting electro­nically and also gives them the possibility of casting ­electronic votes on agenda items. Quite a number of shareholders made use of this online voting option once again in 2018. 

The next ordinary annual general meeting will be held on 26 April 2019.

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 May 2018, Standard & Poor’s upgraded VP Bank’s already strong “A–” rating to “A”, with a stable outlook. The ratings upgrade reflected in particular the substantial net new money inflows in 2017, progress in operations and the continued strong equity position. Standard & Poor’s also highlighted the financial leeway enjoyed by VP Bank to invest in its operating business and play an active role in banking industry consolidation in Europe. 

VP Bank therefore now has an “A/A–1” rating. This outstanding rating and stable outlook were confirmed by Standard & Poor’s in August 2018 and underscore VP Bank Group’s solid and successful business model.

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

VP Bank shares are also followed by analysts from MIRABAUD Securities LLP (recommendation: buy), Research Partners AG (recommendation: buy) and Zürcher Kantonalbank (recommendation: overweight). Recommendations as from March 2019.

Further information on VP Bank’s capital structure and core shareholders can be found in the section “Corporate ­Governance”, page 63 ff.

Cécile Bachmann

Head of Group Communications & Marketing

T +423 235 235 67 62 · F +423 235 66 20

investor.relations@vpbank.com