26th Aug 2014 08:44
LONDON (Alliance News) - Manx Financial Group PLC Tuesday said its first half pretax profit more than doubled, underpinned by an increase in bank lending and a further decrease in employment and other establishment costs.
In a statement, the financial services group, which includes Conister Bank Ltd, Conister Card Services Ltd, and Edgewater Associates Ltd, said it made a GBP755,000 pretax profit in the six months ended June 30, compared with GBP305,000 in the corresponding period last year. Net interest income increased by 37% to GBP5.1 million, while net trading income increased by 22% to GBP3.7 million. Personnel and other establishment costs fell by 3% to GBP2.4 million.
The group said it is aiming to take advantage of significant developments in its key markets of the Isle of Man and the UK. In the former, a number of names have been withdrawing or downsizing their banking model, while in the latter the government and the Bank of England are encouraging more competition in banking.
"We are committed to our strategy of taking advantage of unsatisfied low-risk lending demand in order to grow our balance sheet both steadily and prudently. Our focus on matching deposit maturity with term loans provides considerable protection to earnings compared to our competitors should interest rates increase as we expect," Executive Chairman Jim Mellon said in a statement.
Mellon said the group's new Manx Financial Ltd partnership with Andrew Flowers will provide access to new lending opportunities "hitherto unavailable" to the bank. Manx Financial said earlier this month it has entered a joint venture with a consortium led by Flowers, chairman of Enterprise Insurance Company PLC, to form a company to build a loan book specialising in insurance premium and asset backed finance for the UK professional services market.
"In addition, we hope to be shortly able to announce new initiatives in foreign exchange services and also loan broking, both of which have significant profit potential," Mellon added Tuesday. "Against this background, we are well placed to continue increasing overall profitably, and I anticipate that our full-year results will be no exception to this continuing trend."
Manx Financial Group shares were Tuesday quoted down 2.2% at 15.90 pence.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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