Bank of Ireland set for €1,214m profit

BANK OF IRELAND shares are deemed a buy as the company heads for profits of €1,214m, up 8%, driven by double-digit profit growth in Ireland.

Today, Bank of Ireland (BoI) will release a pre-close statement prior to its year-end on March 31. In-house stockbrokers Davy Bank expect the statement will reaffirm the bank’s defensive qualities. “Our forecasts envisage pre-exceptional pre-tax profits of €1,214m for the year ended March 2003, with earnings per share of 101c undiluted (100c diluted), which is up 8% on the previous year,” analyst Scott Rankin said.

A number of stockbroking houses issued pre-statement notes to clients, with Davy, Dolmen, NCB and Merrion all rating the bank a buy.