GARCHING (dpa-AFX) - Deutsche Pfandbriefbank is surprisingly not paying a dividend after a sharp drop in profits last year. In order to maintain its financial strength in this late phase of the real estate cycle in the interests of all stakeholders, the SDax-listed bank announced in Garching on Thursday that it would forego paying a dividend for the 2023 financial year and prefer to keep the profit in-house. Deutsche Pfandbriefbank had still distributed 95 cents per share for 2022. Experts surveyed by Bloomberg had expected the bank to cut its profit distribution significantly, but not to cancel it. In 2023, earnings before taxes fell by 58 percent to 90 million euros, mainly due to the decline in real estate prices in the USA - as already known./zb/mis