Solid Performance in More Challenging Market Conditions
The group delivered a solid performance in the period with adjusted operating profit up 2% to £111.2 million and adjusted basic earnings per share up 5% to 61.1p
The Banking division continued to deliver growth at strong returns with 4.0% loan book growth in the first half to £6.0 billion and bad debts at a long-term low of 0.6%
Despite difficult market conditions Winterflood continued to trade profitably, delivering adjusted operating profit of £6.8 million
Asset Management has made further progress with good net inflows at 8% of opening managed assets
Dividend per share up 6% to 19.0p, in line with our progressive dividend policy
Strong return on opening equity of 17.9% and common equity tier 1 capital ratio of 13.6%
