IFG ‘confident’ of meeting earnings target

MANAGEMENT at financial services group IFG said yesterday that they remained confident the business would meet previously stated full-year targets of between 18c and 20c in terms of earnings per share for this year.

Earnings per share amounted to 22.77c last year. Back in March, IFG reported full-year figures for 2008, which showed revenues of €109 million and operating profit of €20m – figures which the group’s management said represented “solid and satisfactory progress”.

“Overall performance shows the resilience of the businesses despite the market volatility, pressure on margins in the international division, changes in the UK pension legislation and the well-documented difficulties in the Irish market,” group chairman Joe Moran told shareholders yesterday at the group’s annual general meeting in Dublin.