Ameriprise 2007 Annual Report Download - page 22

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Meeting our commitments
G
enerating
l
ong-term s
h
are
h
o
ld
er va
l
ue is a top priority, an
d
we are
d
e
l
iverin
g
that by meetin
g
our on-avera
g
e, over-time fi nancial tar
g
ets. In 2007 we achieved
net revenue
g
rowth of 8 percent, ad
j
usted earnin
g
s per diluted share
g
rowth o
f
1
6 percent an
d
a
d
juste
d
return on equity o
f
12.6 percent.
Balance sheet strength and fl exibility
F
or many
fi
nancia
l
services companies, t
h
e capita
l
mar
k
ets o
f
2007 presente
d
signi
fi
cant c
h
a
ll
enges. No company was immune;
h
owever, our strong
b
a
l
ance s
h
eet
a
nd conservative approach to our investments helped us avoid si
g
nifi cant losses
r
elated to the value of our investments, and
p
rovided im
p
ortant fl exibility as we
c
ontinue to mana
g
e t
h
e company
f
or
l
on
g
-term success. Supporte
d
b
y t
h
e stren
g
t
h
of
our
b
a
l
ance s
h
eet an
d
capita
l
position, we are ma
k
ing investments to consistent
l
y
a
c
h
ieve our growt
h
targets w
h
i
l
e maintaining pru
d
ent expense contro
l
s an
d
a
ppropriate risk mana
g
ement
.
Returning capital to shareholders
W
e are focused on optimizin
g
the use of our capital and returnin
g
excess capital to
shareholders, consistent with our capital needs and investment plans. In 2007, we
r
eturne
d
more t
h
an our a
d
juste
d
earnings to s
h
are
h
o
ld
ers t
h
roug
h
tota
l
d
ivi
d
en
d
s o
f
56 cents per s
h
are an
d
t
h
e repurc
h
ase o
f
more t
h
an 15.9 mi
ll
ion s
h
ares o
f
our
c
ommon stock at a cost of
$
948 million.
A
t the end of 2007, excess ca
p
ital remained at more than
$
1 billion. We intend to
c
ontinue investin
g
f
or t
h
e
f
uture an
d
d
e
l
iverin
g
returns to s
h
are
h
o
ld
ers.
20 Ameri
p
rise Financial 2007 Annual Re
p
or
t
Creating shareholder value
Investment decisions
come down to risk and return:
How much risk can we accept
to generate appropriate
returns? In the end, when it
comes to investing the
company’s resources, we
remain conservative. While
this approach can reduce
returns during bull markets, it
also helps protect us—and
shareholders—during
downturns.
Enhanced fi nancial reporting:
In the fourth quarter of 2007,
we presented enhanced
fi nancial reporting that is
more closely aligned with the
industry. We now report fi ve
business segments rather
than three—investors can link
business metrics to fi nancial
results and gain a better
understanding of how we
create shareholder value.