Close Brothers' lending still healthy

But the alternative lender was not immune to market changes. The net interest margin for its core banking division, comprising retail, commercial and property finance, declined from 8.6 per cent to 8.2 per cent. Return on opening equity reduced from 27 per cent to 26 per cent, but chief executive Preben Prebensen insists "the glass is much more than half full here". The group does not chase a particular growth target but focuses on stringent loan writing, he added.

Commercial finance, which focuses on asset and invoice finance for SMEs, grew its loan book by a solid 13 per cent to £2.5bn. Retail finance also benefited from an increase in its distribution network of brokers, as well as the addition of motor finance operations in Ireland. And extending property finance to regions outside of London, the south-east and Scotland helped bump-up this division's loan book 12 per cent to £1.5bn.

Troubled securities business Winterflood recovered slightly during the second half of the year, thanks to increasing equity activity by retail investors around the referendum. Mr Prebensen says: "Where banks and builders were sold down very quickly as institutions offloaded them, the retail investors saw that as an opportunity and came in." However, this was not enough to buoy operating income for the division, which declined 13 per cent to £82m. Market volatility also impacted the asset management division, causing a 3 per cent reduction in operating income to £92m and dampening return on opening equity to 25 per cent, from 39 per cent last year.

Analysts at Numis expect adjusted pre-tax profits of £226m for the year ending July 2017 (£234m in FY2016), giving EPS of 114p.