Anglo Irish Bank's performance in the first four months of its current financial year has been strong and the trend was expected to continue for the rest of the year, the bank said yesterday.
Speaking at the group's agm in Dublin yesterday, chairman Sean Fitzpatrick highlighted what he called the bank's "record" performance last year - pretax profit increased 38 per cent to €850 million in the year to the end of September, while total assets rose 48 per cent to €73.3 billion - and said he sees significant opportunities for continued growth throughout the group.
The shares rose by just under 1 per cent yesterday to close at €16.20 after gaining 3.5 per cent Thursday on news that the bank was raising €542 million through the placing of 35.7 million new shares. The placing, available only to institutional investors, was more than four times oversubscribed, a fact Mr Fitzpatrick said proved investors believed in the bank's growth story.
Several brokerages have upgraded their earnings forecasts for the bank.
Anglo said on Thursday it would use the proceeds from the placing to expand the business in its main markets of Ireland, the UK and the US.
Chief executive David Drumm said yesterday the growth would be organic and that the bank had no plans for any acquisitions or to open any new offices in the US.
It currently operates out of Boston, New York and Chicago and will, for the time being, focus on those areas, he said.
Responding to a raft of questions from shareholders, Mr Fitzpatrick said he had no concerns about impaired loans and reiterated that all the bank's lending, both at home and overseas, was secured.
He also dismissed concerns about the bank's large exposure to the construction sector, saying he was very happy with the risk management strategy adopted by the group.
NCB yesterday raised its EPS forecast for the bank by 3.7 per cent for the current financial year and 3.5 per cent for the following year.
It also raised its price target to €17.40. Anglo itself guided 2007 EPS of 115.5 cent on Thursday, an effective increase following the share dilution associated with the placing.
