Alliance and Leicester sees strong revenues growth

Alliance & Leicester today said its annual profits would be towards the top end of expectations after revenues grew faster than in recent years.

The banking group also benefited from strong cost controls as it joined other operators in reporting healthy trading over 2006.

In a trading update, A&L reassured the market over the quality of its lending, with the charge for bad debts in the second half of the year expected to be similar to the £48m (€71m) reported for the first six months of the year.

Analysts’ forecasts for operating profits for 2006 range from £553m (€820m) to £582m (€863m), compared with a figure of £548m (€813m) a year earlier.