Earnings at Anglo ‘to rise by 40%’
In a trading update to shareholders yesterday it said earnings per share (EPS) will be around 40% more than last year’s tally of 41.9 cents a share. This would give EPS of 58.6 cents.
Profits for the first half, which ends on March 31, will also be boosted by a €22 million one-off gain from the sale of a business in the Isle of Man that was finalised late last December.
Lending in the first five months of the financial year has been €7.3 billion, which is already above the €7.1bn it loaned in the first half of 2006. Brokers are expecting lending in the six months to the end of March to be around €8.8bn, 24% more than a year ago.
Brokers are expecting lending for the year to be in the region of €16bn to €22bn. To keep up with the demand for borrowing, Anglo recently raised €540m through a share placing.
Anglo chief executive David Drumm said yesterday: “This has been an excellent start to 2007 and points towards a strong full year outturn.
“The trend in lending work in progress is positive and the continuing significant level of investment being made, positions the bank strongly for the future.”
The bank did not give a pre-tax profit forecast, but the markets are forecasting profits to rise above €500m for the first half and pass the €1bn barrier for the year as a whole. The Anglo trading statement added: “There has been an exceptional performance by our treasury division which has delivered very strong growth in customer funding. In addition, the bank has taken advantage of buoyant debt capital markets, continuing to enhance duration and liquidity to further strengthen the bank’s balance sheet.”
Anglo Irish Bank is also expecting a further fall in its cost- to-income ratio in the first half, despite recruiting 110 more staff to deal with the extra lending. The bank’s cost-to- income ratio is among the lowest in the industry at just under 27%.
Shares in Anglo Irish closed up by 6.1% at to €16.35.
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