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 2019. The market capitalisation of registered shares A combined with the market value of registered shares B totalled CHF 1,025 million at year-end 2019, up approximately 10 per cent from the previous year (CHF 936 million).

On the SIX Swiss Exchange where they are listed, VP Bank shares had a trading volume of 967,357 shares in 2019, representing average daily volume of 3,885 shares. 

VP Bank’s share price trend was volatile in the early months of 2019. It recovered nicely following the disclosure of 2018 results. The market viewed the net new money inflows particularly favourably (➔ Chart 1).

Over the course of the entire year, VP Bank shares expe­rienced clearly less volatility than the overall index. The shares reached a low on 8 March 2019 (CHF 130.20) and a high on 28 May 2019 (CHF 165.40). The share price averaged CHF 149.21 in 2019 and the year-end close was CHF 155.00. After taking into account the dividend of CHF 5.50 VP Bank shares delivered a return of nearly 14 per cent, i.e. roughly in line with the Swiss Bank Index (➔ Chart 2).

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 2019, VP Bank paid a dividend of CHF 5.50 per registered share A, representing a dividend yield of 3.7 per cent at the time. That dividend was based on 2018 consolidated net income totalling CHF 54.7 million (➔ Chart 3).

At 5 November 2019, VP Bank AG successfully issued its first senior non-preferred 10-year bond in the amount of CHF 155 million. The bond was very well received by investors and underscored VP Bank AG’s excellent ­reputation in the Swiss capital market. The bond pays a nominal interest rate of 0.60 per cent (yield of 0.565 per cent) and received an A– rating from Standard & Poor’s. The bond’s payment date was 29 November 2019. 

This bond enables us to optimise our refinancing structure and creates eligible liabilities under future MREL requirements. 

VP Bank views investor relations as a value-enhancing factor for the company and its shareholders. It strives to keep market participants informed of the latest developments in a timely and optimal manner. Its investor relations efforts are designed primarily to provide shareholders and other capital markets participants with a true and fair view of VP Bank Group through an open, ongoing dialogue, build trust, explain future prospects and achieve a fair capital market valuation.

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 Relations website and the online annual report posted online at report.vpbank.com/en/2019.html along with all current information. The VP Bank interim annual report is also available in an online version at report.vpbank.com/en/semi2019.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 design theme of the most recent annual report focused on our sites under the motto “A la Carte”. 

VP Bank Group’s 2018 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. For the first time at the International Annual Report Design Awards (IADA) in London, VP Bank qualified for a Gold Award. The 2018 annual report also won Gold at the “ARC Awards” in the United States, where VP Bank was up against 2,100 entries from 34 countries. The ARC Awards have been handed out in the United States for more than 30 years. 

Of the more than 1,000 participants at the “Vision Awards” sponsored by the League of American Communications Professionals” (LACP) in the United States, VP Bank won a Gold Award. Other awards included the “Galaxy Award” (Silver) and the “Stevie Award” in the United States. 

The online version of the 2018 VP Bank annual report won three international awards: Gold at the Stevie Awards and LACP Vision Awards and Silver at the ARC Awards.

As part of the “Swiss Annual Report Ratings”, a jury of communications and finance professionals again ranked VP Bank Group’s annual report in the top 12 for reports from Switzerland and Liechtenstein.

VP Bank’s 56th Ordinary Annual General Meeting on 26 April 2019 in Vaduz was attended by 487 shareholders, who approved all of the resolutions proposed by the Board of Directors. Shareholders represented at the meeting accounted for 73.83 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. Some shareholders made use of this online voting option once again in 2019. 

The next ordinary annual general meeting will be held on 24 April 2020.

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 August 2019, Standard & Poor’s confirmed the “A/Stable/A–1” rating for VP Bank and emphasized its sound financial position, strong capitalisation, stable shareholder base, ample liquidity and stable client ­deposits. 

The recent confirmation of the rating and outlook by S&P Global Ratings attests to the 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 “Investor Relations / VP Bank Share” section.

VP Bank shares are also followed by analysts from MIRABAUD Securities LLP (recommendation: hold), Research Partners AG (recommendation: buy) and Zürcher Kantonalbank (recommendation: overweight). Recommendations as from March 2020.

Further information on VP Bank’s capital structure and core shareholders can be found in the section “Corporate Governance”, ➔ page 66 ff.

Head of Group Communications & Marketing

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

investor.relations@vpbank.com 

www.vpbank.com / Investor Relations