Profits rise in ‘outstanding’ first half for bank

Paragon Banking Group reported “excellent” results for the six months ended March 31 – with profits rising sharply.

Underlying earnings rose 27.3% to £105.6 million, while new loans rose 32.2% to nearly £1.5 billion.

The bank says it has “strong” pipelines for new business entering its second half.

Nigel Terrington, Paragon’s Chief Executive, said, “These excellent results demonstrate the significant progress we have made in fulfilling our strategic ambitions. Strong growth in new lending at attractive margins has supported the Group’s profits and tangible return on equity development, while capital levels significantly exceed our regulatory requirements and lay the foundation for further growth and additional returns on capital in the future. As the UK economy faces headwinds, we have a quality loan book and are confident in our momentum and have raised our full year guidance.

“Good progress has been made in executing our multi-year digitization plans which will improve the customer experience and over time lead to greater operational efficiencies.

Given the Group’s strong earnings performance and capital position, we have extended this year’s share buyback by a further £25m.”