HBOS reports 13 percent increase in H1 profits |
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Tue, 01 Aug 2006 11:25
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LONDON - The fourth biggest bank in Britain, HBOS Plc has reported a 13 percent increase in its profits to 2.61 billion pounds, in the first half of the year. This result has beaten the analysts’ prediction that had forecasted that the profits would be around 2.53 billion pounds.
The rise in the profits has been attributed to an increase in corporate lending. The company has also increased its share buyback price from 750 million pounds to 1 billion pounds. Meanwhile Andy Hornby, who was unveiled as the new chief executive in place of James Crosby, today said that the bank is considering an increase in the sale of insurance and investment products to its retail banking customers.
The company released a statement saying, "Retail sales, house prices and the economy are all performing better than expected, fuelling calls for a rise in UK interest rates. However, the impact of such a move on our prospects would more than likely be modest. HBOS is a well-diversified provider, not overly dependent on any one product line or customer segment."
HBOS' share were at 94.9 pence, though the shares have fallen by 1.9 percent this year, which is a very bad performance considering that nine-member FTSE 350 Banks Index had risen by 3.1 percent. HBOS has also revealed plans to expand their business in Ireland and Australia as a counter point to the growing competition in UK.
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