Kathmandu, February 27:

Standard Chartered PLC today delivered another strong performance for the year ended on December 31, with operating profit before tax (OPBT) rising by 27 per cent to a record $4.04 billion and operating income increasing by 28 per cent to $11.07 billion.

Normalised earnings per share increased by 16 per cent to 197.6 cents. The bo-ard today announced a di-vidend of 79.35 cents per share, up from 71.04 cents for 2006, states a press note. Growth in underlying income was at 23 per cent against 18 per cent, with 80 per cent of the operating income growth coming from organic businesses. “Both wholesale and consumer banking showed strong income momentum across all client segments and product categories, with both businesses contributing well over $1 billion of incremental income for the year. Both the businesses increased OPBT by 27 per cent,” it claims.

Peter Sands, Group chief executive, said, “Despite the turbulence, shocks and uncertainties in financial markets, we have once again delivered record profits. We haven’t done this by slowing down or squeezing the businesses, we invested behind both our wholesale and consumer banking businesses at record levels last year.”

Many of the key markets in the Standard Chartered network delivered performance at record levels. Hong Kong, the Group’s largest market, increased PBT by 34 per cent and India by 71 per cent.