	creditanstalt sees higher dividend creditanstalt bankverein cabv vi is likely to raise its dividend from the payment of pct of share capital deputy general director guido schmidt chiari said the dividend was pct unchanged from the previous year and schmidt chiari noted that the parent bank s share capital had risen to billion schillings at the end of from billion a year earlier schmidt chiari made the forecast at a news conference when the bank announced a consolidated banking group net profit of mln schillings for against mln in schmidt chiari did not elaborate on his dividend forecast the banking group s consolidated balance sheet total rose to billion schillings at year end from billion general director hannes androsch said higher investment would lead to continuing growth in profits in future last year s better profits had resulted from improvements in services provided by the bank and also in profits on schilling lending schilling lending had grown last year and interest rate margins had also improved but remained unsatisfactory when compared with those in other countries he said increased provisions for possible bad debts at home and abroad particularly in latin america had lowered profits androsch said but declined to give an exact figure schmidt chiari said that foreign lending business had fallen significantly due to exchange rate fluctuations removing some billion schillings from the balance sheet total in an attempt to generate more foreign business representative offices would be opened this year in tokyo hong kong moscow and prague androsch welcomed government plans to abolish legal controls on foreigners buying voting shares and drawing dividends preference shares of state controlled creditanstalt rose eight schillings on the vienna bourse today to brokers said improved results had been widely expected by investors androsch said industrial holdings had performed better in than in previous years giving a return on investment of pct compared with pct in creditanstalt austria s largest bank holds majority interests in medium sized and large austrian companies but he forecast its biggest industrial subsidiary steyr daimler puch ag sdpv vi would return a result similar to the expected operating loss of mln schillings reuter 
