HBOS pays £225.4m in dividends to private shareholders

The UK economy will today (Monday 14th May) enjoy a £225.4 million boost as more than 2 million HBOS private shareholders receive their dividends.

HBOS has the largest private shareholder base in the UK, and around 80% of shareholders are also customers.

As announced in its annual results in February, HBOS is paying shareholders a final dividend of 27.9p per share for the year to the end of December 2006, an increase of 15% over the previous year's final dividend.

This is in addition to the interim dividend of 13.5p per share, paid in October, giving a total dividend for the year of 41.4p. The overall interim dividend paid to private shareholders in the UK was £113 million.

Including dividend payments to institutional shareholders, HBOS will today be paying out £1.05 billion in final dividends – the first time this figure has broken the £1bn barrier.

Commenting, Company Secretary and Group Counsel Harry Baines said: "Our shareholders have again benefited from increased profits and dividends. The growth in the share price of HBOS outperformed the FTSE 100 and the bank sector in 2006."