Irish bank PTSB likely to resume 'modest' dividends in 2026

Reuters
Updated 2-min read
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DUBLIN (Reuters) -Ireland's PTSB will resume dividend payments with a modest distribution, probably in 2026, and build towards a payout ratio of about 40% of attributable profit, the bank said on Thursday after a sharp rise in half-year profit.

Majority owned by the state, PTSB received regulatory clearance in December to resume dividend payments for the first time since 2008. Dividends had been blocked since 2016 as part of the lender's rescue plan after the 2008 financial crisis.

PTSB Chief Executive Eamonn Crowley told an analyst call that he would not 100% rule out a dividend next year but the first payout was more likely in 2026, based on 2025 full-year profit, because of regulatory practicalities.

PTSB reported first-half pretax profit of 75 million euros ($81 million), up from 26 million euros a year earlier, after net interest income rose 4% and it benefited from a 20 million euro impairment charge release and lower regulatory fees.

Shares in the bank were up 3.2% by 0930 GMT.

The mortgage-focused lender's fully loaded core tier 1 capital ratio - a measure of financial strength - rose to 14.9% from 14.3% in March. First-half underlying profit before exceptional items fell to 82 million euros from 86 million euros.

"These are messages that you would not have heard in the past; organically growing capital, growing profitability and diversifying our business," Crowley told analysts.

PTSB had a 13.5% share of the new home loans market in the first six months of the year and Crowley said he expected to return the bank's "natural" 18-20% range in the second half after a 60% year-on-year increase in its mortgage pipeline in the past eight weeks after cuts to interest rates.

The bank has been transformed into a much larger player in the past year after buying 6.75 billion euros of loans from NatWest when the British lender shut its Irish business.

NatWest owns an 11.7% stake in PTSB and the Irish government retains 57%.

($1 = 0.9247 euros)

(Reporting by Padraic HalpinEditing by David Goodman)