The Company reached a milestone at the end of November, as NORDEN's market cap exceeded DKK 10 billion for the fi rst time. As a result of the subsequent positive development of the share price, NORDEN was on 2 January 2007 admitted to the Copenhagen Stock Exchange’s Large Cap index of the largest companies in Denmark measured in terms of market cap. The Company was then among the 90 largest shares on the Nordic Large Cap list with a market cap of DKK 11 billion. The trading volume is still affected by a relatively low free fl oat. The average monthly trading volume was 27,609 shares, equalling 1.2% of the share capital.
Shareholders
At 31 December 2006, three shareholders had reported ownership of 5% or more of the Company’s shares. The three shareholders own a total of 1,805,659, equalling 78.4% of the Company’s share capital.
The Board of Directors considers Motortramp and Kris- tiansands Tankrederi AS to be shareholders with a long- term investment horizon who help NORDEN carry on its strategy and value creation as an independent listed com- pany for the benefi t of all shareholders.
At 31 December 2006, the Company held 136,888 treasury shares, corresponding to 5.9% of the share capital. The Exe- cutive Group holds 3,222 shares in the Company in aggre- gate and the Board of Directors hold 11,175 shares.
NORDEN’s master data
Share capital DKK 46,075,000
Number of shares 2,303,750
Denomination DKK 20
Classes of shares 1
Voting restrictions None
Stock exchange Copenhagen Stock Exchange
Ticker symbol DNORD
ISIN code DK0010269844
The Nordic Stock Exchange Nordic Large Cap
Bloomberg code DNORD.DC
Reuters code DNORD.CO
It is the Company’s goal that the share price refl ects the Company’s actual and expected ability to create value for its shareholders. The Company is promoting this goal by consistently providing timely, precise and relevant infor- mation on the Company’s strategy, operation, results and expectations. NORDEN generally seeks open dialogue with its stakeholders within the framework of the Rules of Ethics of the Copenhagen Stock Exchange.
Share price increase, share index and trading volume
The share price opened the year at DKK 2,925 and closed on 29 December 2006 at DKK 4,790. This equals a price in- crease of DKK 1,865 or 64% since the beginning of the year. The increase mainly took place in the last fi ve months of the year. Including the dividend distributed in May of DKK 200 per share, the return for the year reached 71%. By compari- son, the OMX MidCap+ index rose by 49%.
OMX MidCap+ and NORDEN, 2006
Source: OMX. JAN 05 JUN 05 DEC 05 JUN 06 DEC 06
Trading volume, NORDEN Share price, NORDEN OMX MidCap+ indexed price performance NORDEN indexed price performance Index Shar e p ric e N o . o f shar e s
Through an active information policy, the Company seeks to ensure open dialogue with its shareholders. All share- holders are therefore advised to have their shares regis- tered in the Company’s register of shareholders. At the end of the year, 1,758 shareholders were registered, which con- stitutes an increase of 20% over the previous year.
Dividends
NORDEN’s business model aims to equalise the effect of the cyclical movements inherent in the shipping industry. Strong, long-term earnings are the prerequisite for NOR- DEN to generate an attractive return for its shareholders through dividends and share price increases.
In line with this objective, the Board of Directors will at the annual general meeting on 25 April 2007 propose an ordi- nary dividend of DKK 100 per share, or a total of DKK 230.4 million (USD 40.7 million).
The Board of Directors believes that the proposed dividend is a reasonable part of the annual profi t and ensures that the Company can maintain the fi nancial latitude to make the investments required to generate a long-term return to its shareholders, also in more turbulent market conditions.
Investor relations
In recent years, NORDEN has increased the depth and vol- ume of information released to the equity market. Since the spring of 2005, the Company has made webcasts of its pres-
entations of interim reports and general meetings available to the general public on its website. The Company will continually strive to improve its information. In addition, the Management regularly holds meetings with analysts, investors and the media. In 2006, NORDEN participated in 45 IR-related meetings in Denmark and abroad.
NORDEN News
The magazine ”NORDEN News” is published four times a year. The magazine gives employees, shareholders and other stakeholders an insight into the human values which are an essential part of NORDEN and is one of the things that make the Company unique. The Company’s sharehold- ers can read ”NORDEN News” at the Company’s website: www.ds-norden.com.
New website
In connection with the interim report for the fi rst quarter of 2007, the Company will launch a new website. This ini- tiative will further improve the Company’s communication with its shareholders.
The Management is responsible for the Company’s investor relations.
Persons responsible for the day-to-day IR tasks are: Martin Badsted, Vice President
Peter Sand, Executive Assistant E-mail: [email protected] Telephone: +45 3315 0451
Composition of shareholders
Further information available at www.ds-norden.com.
A/S Dampskibsselskabet TORM, Hellerup A/S Motortramp, Stensved
Kristiansands Tankrederi AS, Kristiansand NORDEN
Registered holders of less than 5% Unregistered 5% 33% 26% 20% 6% 10%
40 no r d e n m a n ag e me nt ’ s r ev i e w
Information about NORDEN, subscription to mailing list and an overview of stock exchange announcements in 2006 are available on www.ds-norden.com.
Financial calendar for 2007
25 April: Annual general meeting 1 May: Payment of dividends
24 May: Interim report for the fi rst quarter 23 August: Interim report for the fi rst half 29 November: Interim report for the third quarter
Proposals to be submitted at the 2007 annual general meeting
Among the proposals the Board of Directors intends to sub- mit at the annual general meeting to be held on 25 April 2007 are the following:
• that the denomination of shares be lowered from DKK 20 to DKK 1 in order to enhance the liquidity of the share, • that the Board of Directors be authorised to allow the
Company to acquire up to 10% of the share capital at the market price prevailing at the time of acquisition plus/ minus 10%, such authorisation to be valid until next year’s annual general meeting,
• that the Company in future appoint only one state-au- thorised public accountant,
• that the Company’s register of shareholder be kept by VP Investor Services A/S (VP Services A/S).
The Company presents its fi nancial statements in accord- ance with the International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS), approved by the EU, and the additional Danish disclosure requirements for annual reports of listed com- panies.
No changes have been made to the accounting policies ap- plied last year.
For additional information, please see note 1 “Accounting policies”.