By Najat Kantouar
Paragon Banking Group reported a lower pretax profit for fiscal 2023 and said it plans a share buyback of up to 50.0 million pounds ($63 million) for fiscal 2024, reflecting the strength of its capital ratios and liquidity level.
The specialist U.K. property-and-business lender said Wednesday that pretax profit for the year ended Sept. 30 fell 52.2% to GBP199.9 million from GBP417.9 for the same period a year earlier due to the unwinding of non-cash accounting fair value gains in 2022.
However, underlying profit before fair value items increased by 25.4% to GBP277.6 million from GBP221.4 million.
Net interest income rose to GBP448.9 million from GBP371.2 million and net interest margin widened by 40 basis points year-on-year to 309 basis points.
The lender’s common equity Tier 1 ratio–a measure of financial stability–was 15.5% compared with 16.3%.
The board has declared an final dividend of 37.4 pence, up from 28.6 pence.
“The strength of the business model and through-the-cycle experience of the management team provides strong foundations to capitalize on opportunities and continue to deliver strong returns for shareholders,”…
Read the full article here