Clydesdale shares up; first results since IPO

Shares in newly independent Clydesdale and Yorkshire Bank (CYBG) rose almost 4% on Tuesday after its first set of results since demerging from National Australia Bank (NAB) and completing its IPO showed a slight fall in underlying profit but growth in mortgage and business lending.

For the six months ended March 31, CYBG’s underlying profit before tax fell by £4 million to £107 million compared to the six months to March 31 last year.

But, net interest income increased by £10 million to £400 million, driven by higher income from mortgage lending growth.

CYBG shares were trading around around 245p on Tuesday, giving it a current stock market value of more than £2.1 billion.

According to Reuters data, CYBG was valued at about £1.6 billion at the time of its IPO in February.

CYBG shares have now risen more than 35% from their IPO listing price of 180p.

“We have a strong momentum in our business, continuing to grow ahead of the market in mortgages and over £1 billion of SME loans and facilities were made available in the first half,” said David Duffy, chief executive.

“We have also seen encouraging growth in current accounts, with a number of our new products leading the field and making it quicker, simpler and more convenient for customers to access our services …

“We are also progressing with our plans to become a more efficient, responsive and productive business, and now expect our costs for the year to be £730 million, materially below our previous guidance as we begin to see the benefits of actions we have taken to lower the cost base and standalone and separation costs which were lower than expected.”

Jim Pettigrew, chairman, said: “We have a strong international shareholder base who have shown great support for our business, a high calibre leadership team which is now complete and we have refreshed and strengthened the board with new non-executive director appointments …

“Becoming an independent PLC has been a catalyst for our ongoing cultural transformation.”