Permanent TSB Group Holdings plc improved its operating profit by 23% to €378m in 2015, according to the 2015 annual report issued today. Publication of the annual report ten weeks after year-end makes the bank something of an outlier on the Irish plc scene.

CEO Jeremy Masding (pictured) said the lender’s ‘underlying profit’ was €26m, an improvement of €65m over 2014 and the first positive outcome for the company since 2007.

New lending in 2015 was up 6% at €519m and the cost income ratio reduced to 84% from 126% in 2014. After accounting for a €401m book loss on asset disposals, the net result was a loss of €425m compared with a net loss of €102m in 2014.

Masding commented: “In our first full year results since the IPO last Spring, we are delighted to be reporting our first return to pre-exceptional profit since 2007. We made strong progress on growing our margin, reducing our costs, putting sustainable solutions in place for customers in arrears and further strengthening our balance sheet. There’s much still to be done and further challenges to be met but we have made a good start and are in a good position.”

Masding added that in 2015 PTSB opened 43,000 new current accounts. Current account balances increased by 13.9% while Irish retail deposits reduced by 5.5% in 2015 to €11 billion.

In Association with

Gross mortgage lending for 2015 was €459m, an increase of 2% on 2014. Term lending drawdowns were up 40% year-on-year albeit from a low base.

“Whilst the year-on-year increase in mortgage lending is positive, we are not satisfied with the level of growth we achieved,” said Masding. “In response, we have launched an attractive new mortgage proposition which we believe offers the best value in the variable rate market segment.”

Non–Core Disposals

PTSB completed the sale of the vast majority of its Irish non-core loans in 2015. The sale of £2.5 billion of loans held by the UK business was also completed in 2015, along with the associated entity and operating platform.

According to Masding: “The residual UK mortgage book of £2.4 billion of loans remains non-core to the group and the board continues to explore options to deleverage these loans, though market dynamics have changed considerably in the UK mortgage market.

“It should be noted that the group has an obligation to sell these loans under the EU Restructuring Plan by 30 June 2016, if minimum pricing hurdles are met.”