Allied Irish Banks this morning reported a 3 per cent rise in 2003 underlying earnings but its shares tumbled as investors struggled to digest a set of figures clouded by one-off factors.
AIB fell over 7 per cent to €12.35 in heavy trade in Dublin despite meeting market forecasts with its guidance for 2004 earnings.
Some analysts said comparing the 2003 figures with their own forecasts was difficult as the numbers were complicated.
Chief executive Mr Michael Buckley described the bank's underlying performance as strong and said he was "very confident" for the year ahead.
"(The) sort of guidance we're giving is high single-digit, because a number of those once-off items that impacted this year...will be falling away," he said.
However, he added currency translation factors, which lopped 4 per cent off 2003 earnings, would have a negative impact of around 3 per cent this year.
This would result in a rise of around 6 per cent in underlying earnings in 2004 to around 125 cents per share.
The bank reported 2003 underlying earnings up 3 per cent to 118 cents per share after stripping out factors such as restructuring costs related to the sale of its US unit to New York-based M&T Bank and a Government tax levy.
Non-underlying adjusted EPS fell 11 per cent to 109.5 cents. Analysts however noted the results included around €70 million in unexpected charges, relating to retirement payments in Ireland and restructuring costs in Poland.
In the US, M&T Bank, with which AIB merged its Allfirst Financial unit following a $700 million "rogue trader" scandal in 2002, was guiding double-digit growth for this year, he said.
AIB announced a 10 per cent increase in total dividend to 54 cents per share.