Anglo Irish forecast to return 24% profit rise

STELLAR stock market performer Anglos Irish Bank will announce a 24% increase in profits next week, NCB Stockbrokers forecast.

NCB analyst John Kelly said they are forecasting “clean” pre-tax profits and EPS of 344m and 73.5c respectively, an increase of 24%, when Anglo announce results for the 12-months ended September 30 2003 on Wednesday next.

Anglo shares have performed exceptionally well this year, rising from a 2003 closing low of 6.05 on February 15 last to a closing high of 10.45 on October 22. The shares have fallen back to about 10 in recent days.

The commercial lender also appears to be the lead bank chosen by the three Irish investors who have made approaches to takeover Gresham Hotels, which has a current market capitalisation of 87m.

“The figures should reflect a strong performance across all business areas, with strong volume growth in Ireland and the UK and stable net interest margins. We are forecasting 25% (y-o-y) growth in average interest earnings assets for the full year, ” Mr Kelly said.

The NCB analyst believes that volume growth is set to be particularly strong in Britain, which accounted for 39% of total group loans at the interim stage (16.2bn).

“Margins have remained stable and, coupled with strong volume growth, will lead to strong operating profit growth in the period.

“Asset quality and NPLs are likely to be still performing well. Indeed, this will be one of the key issues to focus on in the upcoming results,” he added.

The general provision charge for the six months ending March 2003 was 9m (or 2.7c per share) higher than NCB expectation and company guidance of 1% of growth in net loans (actual was 1.47%)