AIB expects profit growth despite M&T Bank fall

AIB expects its earnings to grow by a low double digit percentage this year despite a fall in profits at M&T Bank in the US where it has a 23.5% stake.

Chairman Dermot Gleeson told shareholders at AIB’s AGM in Galway yesterday that their share of M&T Bank’s after-tax profit in 2006 amounted to €141 million, down 4% when compared to 2005.

Buffalo-based M&T, whose other main shareholders include Warren Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway said last month first-quarter profit fell 13% amid weak demand for mortgages.