Commercial bank Arbuthnot Banking Group Plc (LON: ARBB) has seen its share price rally in morning trading on Wednesday after the Company posted significant year-on-year profit growth for the first half.
The Company’s H1 pre-tax profits jumped on a year-on-year basis, up from £1.2 million during H1 2018 to £2.9 million for H1 2019. Similarly, underlying profit before tax was up from £2.7 million to £3.4 million for the first half.
Arbuthnot also noted that customer loans grew to £1,275 million and customer deposits grew to £1,829 million during H1 2019, up from £1,097 million and £1,547 million respectively by the end of H1 2018.
Further, it added that it had raised £39.5 million of regulatory capital and agreed the purchase of the £266 million Mortgage Portfolio. However, while the Company’s Assets Under Management grew 4.5% from December 2018, they were down 4% year-on-year for H1, from £1,069 million to £1,029 million.
Arbuthnot Bank comments
Commenting on the results, Sir Henry Angest, Company Chairman and Chief Executive, said,
“The Group has had a good start to the year. We have raised new capital, grown our existing businesses and continued to deliver on our plans to diversify. We have also agreed to buy a mortgage portfolio which should help to improve the returns of the Group.”
Investor notes
The Company’s dividend per share grew from 15p for H1 2018, to 16p for H1 2019. However, earnings per share were down from 21.7p to 16.6p and net assets per share dropped from £15.40 to £13.21.
The Group’s shares have rallied 1.84% or 25p to 1,385p a share during morning trading on Wednesday 17/07/19 11:54 BST. Numis analysts reiterated their ‘Buy’ stance on Arbuthnot stock.
Elsewhere in the banking sector, there have been updates from; Deutsche Bank (ETR: DBK), Lloyds Banking Group (LON: LLOY) and Nationwide (LON:NBS).