Shares and shareholders
All of the company’s share capital is of a single class and each share is ISK 1 nominal value and entitles the owner to one vote. The shares are traded on Nasdaq Iceland and also on Nasdaq Stockholm in the form of Swedish depository receipts (SDRs) where one SDR equals one share.
At the Annual General Meeting of Arion Bank hf. on 15 March 2023 a motion was passed to reduce the company’s share capital by ISK 50,000,000 at nominal value, totalling 50,000,000 shares, by cancelling the company’s own shares. The reduction was executed on 25 April 2023. The company’s share capital therefore decreased from ISK 1,510,000,000 to ISK 1,460,000,000 at nominal value, and at year-end the Bank’s issued share capital totalled ISK 1,460,224,359 after the Bank issued share capital due to the exercising of warrants in the fourth quarter. At year-end Arion Bank owned a total of 13,868,122 own shares and SDRs, or around 0.95% of issued share capital. The increase in the number of own shares after the share capital decrease can be explained by the buyback program which was completed at the end of May 2023.
Major shareholders and transactions
The following shareholders, which own 1% or more of the issued share capital, increased their shareholdings in 2023: Vanguard added 1.56 percentage points, Brú Pension Fund (+0.53 points), and Festa Pension Fund (+0.40 points). Shareholders which reduced their holdings most were Stefnir Funds, which reduced its holding by 1.89 percentage points, Landsbréf (-0.53 points) and Schroders (-0.45 points).
At the end of 2023 Gildi Pension Fund was the largest shareholder in Arion Bank with a shareholding of 9.85%. LSR Pension Fund was the second largest shareholder with a 9.62% shareholding, and the third largest was Live Pension Fund with a 9.02% share.
Largest shareholders 31.12.2023 | Number of shares | % |
|---|---|---|
Gildi Pension Fund | 143.848.037 | 9,85% |
LSR Pension Fund | 140.409.816 | 9,62% |
Live Pension Fund | 131.746.948 | 9,02% |
Stoðir hf. | 78.500.000 | 5,38% |
Brú Pension Fund | 63.338.437 | 4,34% |
Vanguard | 57.120.244 | 3,91% |
Birta Pension Fund | 52.326.798 | 3,58% |
Frjálsi Pension Fund | 51.841.685 | 3,55% |
Stapi Pension Fund | 41.683.628 | 2,85% |
Hvalur hf. | 36.771.350 | 2,52% |
Festa Pension Fund | 34.814.831 | 2,38% |
Stefnir Asset Management Company hf | 33.604.369 | 2,30% |
Íslandsbanki hf. | 32.766.287 | 2,24% |
Kvika banki hf. | 24.288.526 | 1,66% |
Almenni Pension Fund | 22.140.174 | 1,52% |
Lífsverk Pension Fund | 17.939.936 | 1,23% |
Sjóvá | 15.923.881 | 1,09% |
Landsbankinn hf. | 15.498.519 | 1,06% |
Source: Nasdaq Iceland, Euroclear Sweden and Modular finance
Shareholding – by country
At the end of 2023 approximately 89% of shareholders were Icelandic. Other shareholders were primarily from the United States, the United Kingdom and Sweden. The Bank had 10,906 shareholders at the end of 2023, a decrease of 1,153 or 9.6% during the year.
Country | 31.12.2023 | 31.12.2022 |
|---|---|---|
Iceland | 88,6% | 90,8% |
USA | 5,0% | 3,2% |
United Kingdom | 1,8% | 1,2% |
Sweden | 0,6% | 0,8% |
Luxembourg | 0,2% | 0,1% |
Netherlands | 0,2% | 0,1% |
Kuwait | 0,1% | 0,2% |
Other | 3,5% | 3,7% |
Source: Nasdaq Iceland, Euroclear Sweden and Modular finance
Dividend and share buyback
The Bank’s annual general meeting in March approved the payment of a dividend of ISK 12.36 billion during the year in respect of the financial year 2022, corresponding to ISK 8.5 a share. In 2023 the Bank also acquired own shares worth ISK 3.26 billion or 22,323,261 shares and SDRs.
Trading and performance
The Icelandic equities market continued to be volatile in 2023, and the same was true of Arion Bank shares. The Bank’s share price on Nasdaq Iceland ended the year 1.3% up, while SDRs on Nasdaq Stockholm climbed 0.5%. Taking into account dividends during the year Arion Bank’s share price climbed 7.7% and SDRs in Stockholm rose 6.9%.
The average turnover in 2023 with the Bank’s shares and SDRs was down on the previous year. The average daily turnover was 2.8 million shares and approximately 40,000 SDRs, making a total of 2.88 million shares. In comparison the daily turnover in 2022 was 3.75 million shares.
Banki | Breyting | Breyting m.t.t. arðs |
|---|---|---|
Danske Bank | 31,4% | 37,1% |
SEB | 15,7% | 23,1% |
Swedbank | 14,7% | 21,2% |
Nordea | 11,7% | 21,2% |
DNB | 11,1% | 18,6% |
Handelsbanken | 4,1% | 13,7% |
SR-Bank | 6,8% | 13,0% |
Jyske Bank | 7,2% | 9,0% |
Arion banki | 1,3% | 7,7% |
Arion SDR | 0,5% | 6,9% |
Sydbank | 0,3% | 6,1% |
Ringkjöbing Landsbank | 4,6% | 5,3% |
Spar Nord Bank | 0,2% | 4,4% |
Íslandsbanki | -7,3% | -2,6% |
Aktia | -7,8% | -3,5% |
Kvika banki | -8,7% | -6,7% |
Source: Bloomberg
Share price performance – Arion Bank and Nordic banks
The graph below shows the performance of Arion Bank shares and SDRs during 2023 compared with selected large cap and mid cap banks in the Nordic region.
Share price performance - shares in Iceland and SDRs in Sweden and indices 2023
Share price performance – comparison with Nordic large 2023
Share price performance – comparison with Nordic mid caps
Key figures
Arion Bank's shares (since IPO) | 2023 | 2022 | 2021 | 2020 | 2019 | 2018 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Earnings per share | 17,80 | 17,40 | 17,96 | 7,24 | 0,61 | 3,86 |
Dividend per share ISK | 8,5 | 15 | 1,74 | 0,00 | 5,00 | 5,00 |
P/E ratio | 8,54 | 8,79 | 10,61 | 13,12 | 141,48 | 18,26 |
Market capitalisation shares, ISK billion | 220 | 220 | 289 | 163 | 153 | 141 |
Market capitalisation SDRs, SEK billion | 15,9 | 16,1 | 20,3 | 10,5 | 11,9 | 9,4 |
Share price, 31 December, ISK | 152 | 150 | 190,5 | 95 | 86,3 | 70,5 |
SDR price, 31 December, SEK | 11,02 | 10,96 | 13,40 | 6,12 | 6,69 | 5,18 |
Highest share price during year (close), ISK | 158,5 | 191,5 | 198 | 95 | 86,3 | 93,6 |
Highest SDR price during year (close), SEK | 12,00 | 14,4 | 13,60 | 6,85 | 6,69 | 8,07 |
Lowest share price during year (close), ISK | 126,5 | 147,5 | 93,7 | 49,0 | 69,3 | 70,5 |
Lowest SDR price during year (close), SEK | 9,61 | 10,96 | 6,02 | 3,49 | 5,25 | 5,18 |
Share price performance, ISK | 1,3% | -21,3% | 100,5% | 10,1% | 22,4% | -6,0% |
SDR price performance, SEK | 0,5% | -18,2% | 119,0% | -8,5% | 29,2% | -15,2% |
Total shareholder return ISK, % | 7,74% | -13,4% | 102,4% | 10,1% | 29,5% | 0,7% |
Dividend yield ISK, % | 5,46% | 10,0% | 0,9% | 0,0% | 5,8% | 7,1% |
Average daily volume on Nasdaq Iceland (no of shares) | 2.840.147 | 3.547.348 | 7.639.689 | 4.244.811 | 5.226.166 | 1.206.679 |
Average daily volume on Nasdaq Stockholm (no of SDRs) | 41.407 | 198.530 | 331.374 | 648.087 | 1.535.434 | 1.289.180 |
Number of outstanding shares as of 31 December, millions | 1.446 | 1.465 | 1.518 | 1.718 | 1.773 | 1.814 |
Holding of repurchased own shares/SDRs as of 31 December, millions | 13.9 | 45,4 | 141,7 | 12,0 | 41,0 | 186,0 |
Number of issued shares | 1.460 | 1.510 | 1.660 | 1.730 | 1.814 | 2.000 |