The Board of Directors of SPARBANK A/S has decided to move forward the publication of the interim report for H1 2008 to today. SPARBANK's profit before tax was DKK 98.7m against DKK 136.3m in H1 2007. This corresponds to a re-turn on equity before tax of 11.8%. The profit before write-downs of loans and receivables etc. and market value adjustments was DKK 115.9m against DKK 102.3m the year before. Core earnings - the result of the actual banking operations - totalled DKK 88.0m against DKK 102.6m the year before. SPARBANK's liquidity is satisfactory. The liquidity surplus cover relative to the statutory minimum require-ments is 121.1%, corresponding to a surplus cover of DKK 2.3bn. At the end of H1 2007, the surplus cover was 18.3%, corresponding to a surplus cover of DKK 0.3bn. In June, SPARBANK took out a syndicated loan of DKK 858m. As indicated by the bank in connection with the publication of its 2007 annual report, the bank still expects core earnings - the result of the actual banking operations - for 2008 as a whole to be in the region of DKK 140-160m.