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(Alliance news) - Virgin Money UK PLC on Thursday reinstated its interim payout and posted a sharp profit rise.
For the six months ended March 31, total operating income rose 21% to £844 million from £695 million a year prior. Pretax profit jumped to £315 million from £72 million.
Virgin Money's Chief Executive Officer David Duffy said: ‘We've made good progress against our strategy, while delivering a significant increase in profit. We have positive momentum in attracting new customers to Virgin Money through record credit card sales, good growth in personal current account openings and a strong uptake of our new digital fee-free business current account.’
Virgin Money's common equity tier 1 ratio, a key metric for banks, dipped to 14.7% on March 31 from 14.9% at the end of September. Annually, the CET1 ratio improved from 14.4%.
The net interest margin improved to 1.83% from 1.56% a year prior. Virgin Money put this down to ‘higher rates, lower deposit costs from ongoing repricing and mix benefit, and a higher yielding lending mix, offsetting mortgage spread pressures’.
Virgin Money now expects its full-year net interest margin to land between 1.80% to 1.85%. It had previously expected an annual NIM of 1.75%.
Virgin Money declared a 2.5 pence per share for the six month period, having not paid an interim dividend in financial 2021.
Virgin Money's shares were down 6.1% at 166.60 pence each on Thursday morning in London.
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