1st May 2018 08:37
LONDON (Alliance News) - Virgin Money Holdings (UK) Ltd on Tuesday said it has performed in line with expectations in the first quarter of 2018 with its full year guidance left unchanged.
Gross mortgage lending in the three months to March was GBP1.4 billion, down from GBP2.0 billion in the same period a year earlier. Net mortgage lending was GBP200.0 million, as guided, compared to GBP900.0 million 12 months earlier.
Mortgage balances as at March's end were GBP33.85 billion, compared to GBP33.67 billion at the end of December and GBP30.68 billion a year earlier.
Credit card balances were up 14% year-on-year to GBP3.02 billion at March's end and 1.3% higher on December's end figure.
Virgin Money's deposit balances stood at GBP31.12 billion at the end of March, 7.4% higher year-on-year and 1.0% quarter-on-quarter.
The company said cards performance met expectations, while the volume and price of retail deposits was ahead of expectations. Its credit performance continued to be "strong".
Chief Executive Jayne-Anne Gadhia said: "Our customer-focused strategy of growth, quality and returns continues to drive strong business performance. We have also made good progress in delivering on the strategic initiatives we announced last year.
"We launched our SME deposit account in January and look forward to additional product launches later in the year. We have seen a stronger than expected customer response to the launch of our first Virgin Atlantic frequent flyer cards, demonstrating the strength of customer affinity with the Virgin brand. And we continue to make good progress in the development of our digital bank."
"In March, we announced a new partnership with Aberdeen Standard Investments which we believe will drive significant growth in assets under management," she added.
"In addition to the strategic initiatives, we are focused on growing assets at the right price and quality in a competitive mortgage market and are pleased to report 10.4% year-on-year growth in our mortgage book. We remain on track to deliver on the targets we set at the end of last year."
Shares were up 3.8% in early trading on Tuesday at a price of 289.30 pence each.
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