LONDON (ShareCast) - Close Brothers reported strong half year results driven by a good performance from its banking division.
Despite difficult market conditions in its Winterflood Securities business, the banking division reported positive profit growth thanks to strong loan book growth and lower impairments.

The banking arm saw its adjusted operating profit rise 19% to £106.4m, with an increase of 3.2% in loan book.

However, Winterflood profits fell 23% to £10.3m due to the challenging market conditions.

The group's operating profit before tax rose 16% to £108.6m, driving basic earning per share to rise 31% to 64.5p.

The group increased its dividend by 9% to 18p.

Chief executive Preben Prebensen said: "We achieved another good result in the first half, building on our long track record of performance. We continued to achieve strong returns in the banking division and asset management has made steady progress, although performance in Securities was affected by difficult trading conditions.

"Looking forward, we remain committed to our strategic priorities and remain confident in the outlook for the current financial year."

Shore Capital analysts said the company's profits were ahead of their expectations by 2-3%.

The broker added: "We retain our neutral stance, but believe that the shares are now trading at the wrong side of fair value and would therefore would not be averse to investors beginning to take profits."

Shares in Close Brothers fell 1.38% to 1639p on Tuesday at 09:28.

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