In light of a strong financial performance, the Paragon Board recommends a final ordinary dividend of 4.66p per share, taking the total ordinary dividend for the year to 6.16p per share. This is an increase of 28% on the previous year and extends their record of increasing their ordinary dividend every year since we paid our first dividend in 2004.
Other financial highlights include:
Underlying profit reduced to £120.0 million (2019: £164.4 million), driven by IFRS 9 Expected Credit Loss charges of £48.3 million, reflecting the impact of Covid-19 (2019: £8.0 million)
Statutory profit before tax reduced to £118.4 million (2019: £159.0 million)
Capital ratios remain strong after accruing for the dividend; CET1 ratio at 14.3% (30 September 2019: 13.7%)
Net interest margin reduced slightly to 2.24% (2019: 2.29%), reflecting the reduction in base rates during the year, largely recovered by year end given liability repricing
