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Bank of Ireland Group PLC on Monday increased its annual dividend, despite slightly lower profit, as it said the underlying business is healthy. The Dublin-based lender reported pretax profit of €1.86 billion in 2024, down 4.3% from €1.94 billion in 2023. Operating profit declined by 7.6% to €2.22 billion from €2.40 billion, as net interest income edged down 3.2% to €3.57 billion from €3.68 billion. Underlying pretax profit rose 5.3% to €2.13 billion in 2024 from €2.02 billion in 2023, thanks to net impairments of financial instruments being cut to €123 million from €403 million. But statutory pretax profit was reduced by €275 million in non-core items, up from €85 million of such costs in 2023. Bank of Ireland declared a 28 euro cents final dividend, resulting in a full-year payout of 63 cents, up 5.0% from 60 cents in 2023. Looking ahead to 2025, Bank of Ireland guided for net interest income of greater than €3.25 billion, meaning a maximum decline of 9.0% from 2024. The bank also guided for a 3% increase in operating expenses and for non-core costs of €100 million to €125 million. ‘We are now two-thirds of the way through our current strategic cycle and continue to meet or beat all our business targets,’ said Chief Executive Officer Myles O’Grady, adding: ‘The group enters 2025 with momentum across all business lines. Notwithstanding potential impacts to global trade, our business model continues to be highly capital generative for the coming year and beyond, supporting customer growth, business model investment and attractive shareholder returns.’ Bank of Ireland shares were up 4.2% to €10.77 in London early Monday. Copyright 2025 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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