25th Sep 2018 09:05
LONDON (Alliance News) - Close Brothers Group PLC said Tuesday that good performance in its core banking division and strong fund inflows in the asset management unit led to a rise in annual earnings.
The merchant banking group also upped its dividend payment and added that it remains well positioned to continue performing well in a range of market conditions.
"Our strategic priorities are clear and unchanged, and we remain strongly committed to our proven business model, maintaining confidence in our ability to trade successfully in a range of economic conditions," said Chief Executive Preben Prebensen.
"All of this ensures we can continue to support our customers and clients, and deliver value for our shareholders, through all stages of the financial cycle," Prebensen added.
For the financial year that ended July 31, Close Brothers recorded pretax profit of GBP271.2 million, up from GBP262.5 million in the year-ago period, on net interest income of GBP486.1 million and GBP457.5 million, respectively. Fee and commission income rose to GBP213.3 million from GBP206.4 million.
Annual operating profit before amortisation of intangible assets on acquisition - the company's preferred profit measure - increased 4% to GBP278.6 million from GBP268.7 million.
The core banking division recorded adjusted operating profit of GBP251.8 million for the financial year, up 2% on the prior year, with continued low impairments and a strong net interest margin. The increase was driven by commercial and property lending business.
The division's loan book grew 6.0% to GBP7.3 billion from GBP6.9 billion.
Stockbroking arm Winterflood Securities recorded flat adjusted operating profit of GBP28.1 million for the 2018 financial year.
Annual adjusted operating profit of asset management division jump 33% year-on-year to GBP23.1 million from GBP17.4 million on the back of strong net inflows.
Close Brothers proposed a full-year dividend of 63.0 pence per share, up from 60.0p paid a year ago, in line with its progressive dividend policy.
Shares in the company were up 0.9% at 1,662.00 pence each on Tuesday morning.
Related Shares:
Close Bros