A strong performance from the banking division and a return to profitability in asset management helped to lift adjusted operating profit by 24 per cent to £166.5m at financial group, Close Brothers (CBG). Accordingly, the return on equity grew from 12.5 per cent to 15.8 per cent, while the group's core tier-1 capital ratio rose from 12.8 per cent to 13.3 per cent.
The banking division continued to focus on making secured, short-term, small ticket loans, and while the loan book increased by 13 per cent to £4.6bn, the bad debt ratio continued to improve from 1.5 per cent to 1.2 per cent, and adjusted operating profit rose 17 per cent to £157.8m. Trading on the securities side recovered from a poor start to deliver a 5 per cent increase in profits to £25.7m, thanks to a six-fold increase in profit at German unit, Seydler. And asset management showed the benefits of a restructuring, turning a £4.3m loss into a profit of £4m. A solid investment performance lifted assets under management from £8.3bn to £9.1bn, too, although there was a small net funds outflow of £212m.