In stark contrast to the decelerating property market, Northern Rock, the Newcastle-based bank that is the country’s listed seventh-largest bank in terms of assets, reported considerably heartening results in the first-half of the year.
Northern Rock posted a pre-tax profit rise of about 13.3% to £239.2m in the half year ending June, as compared to the same period last year. Likewise, net lending along with repayments soared by 17.2% to hit a commendable £6bn. The company, thereby, has occupied an extended share of mortgage lending in Britain of 14.2% now, as against 11.2% in the earlier year.
In addition, the quantity of non-repayments and bad debts slipped notwithstanding the increase in lending as outstanding amounts that were recorded in mortgage books during three months decreased to 0.35% from 0.37% in the beginning of 2005.
The chief executive of Northern Rock, Adam Applegarth commented, “Our unsecured lending, our commercial lending, our home loan lending - none of these have deteriorated in credit quality.” The bank also asserted its determination to steer on the path of persistent growth in the coming year as there seemed to be a fervent demand for loans which had not yet been fulfilled. Applegarth added that the bank’s ‘uncompleted business’ was about £6.5billion which had increased by 26% against the beginning of the year.
Furthermore, the interim dividend to be paid on October 27 also went up by 10.6% to become 9.4p, while the pre-tax profit jumped £57m. However, shares ended at a somber 9p down at 822p.
Posted
on : Sat, 30 Jul 2005 08:20 GMT | Mortgages News
By : Paula Jenkins
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