22nd May 2018 10:24
LONDON (Alliance News) - Close Brothers Group PLC on Tuesday said it continued to perform well in the third quarter of its financial year despite slightly weaker market conditions at the start of the period.
The merchant banking group said it achieved "solid" loan book growth in the three months ended April, while maintaining its disciplined approach to lending in its Banking division.
Overall, the loan book increased 2.4% in the quarter and was up 4.1% in the year to date at GBP7.2 billion. In the last quarter ended January, the company posted the loan book of GBP7.0 billion.
Commercial Finance and Property Finance, both achieved "solid" load book growth, Close Brothers said, while Retail Finance loan book remained broadly flat.
Meanwhile, performance at Winterflood Securities continued to improve, benefiting from increased trading activity in April.
Finally, the Asset Management business gained from strong net inflows, which more than offset negative market movements. Managed assets increased by 2.0% in the quarter to GBP9.9 billion compared with GBP9.7 billion in the previous quarter.
Total client assets were broadly stable quarter-on-quarter at GBP11.8 billion.
"Following our good performance in the year to date, we remain well positioned for the full year," Close Brothers said in a statement.
Shares in Close Brothers were trading up 0.5% at 1,599.00 pence early on Tuesday.
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