Bank Assotsiatsia poised to pay out 2008 dividends

PRIME-TASS. An annual shareholders meeting conducted by Bank Assotsiatsia Wednesday approved 2008 dividend payouts of Rub 4.05 per common share with Rub 159.00 par value, the bank reported. The plan is to earmark Rub 5.85 mln (15% of net profit) for dividend payouts. Another 20% of net profit is to be allocated to the Reserve Fund and 22% for special-purpose payments. In other words, 43% of net profit will be retained. The deadline for paying out dividends is 60 days from the time when a relevant decision is taken.

The lending institution paid out 2007 dividends equal to Rub 3.33 per share.

The bank’s shareholders approved an annual report, according to which net profit jumped 20.6% y-o-y to Rub 39.03 mln, pre-tax profit climbed 22.9% to Rub 55.70 mln, grand total grew 13.4% to Rub 2.63 bln, equity leapt 21.3% to Rub 409.59 mln and the credit portfolio (excluding inter-bank loans) increased 26.13% to Rub 2.24 bln (the bank executed no transactions on the inter-bank lending market in 2008).