Shares in Anglo Irish Bank surged by more than 5 per cent yesterday as the bank's full-year results came in well ahead of market expectations.

A strong performance from all divisions and regions helped the bank to report a 36 per cent rise in pretax profits to €685 million, against a consensus forecast of €659 million.

Earnings per share rose by 28 per cent to a record 73.21 cent. Anglo plans to pay a final dividend of 9.03 cent, bringing the full-year dividend to 13.54 cent, a rise of 20 per cent.

Anglo shares closed 61 cent higher at €11.58 as the market welcomed the numbers and analysts raised their forecasts.

The results were the first set of full-year figures reported under Anglo's new chief executive, David Drumm, who described the year as an "outstanding" one for the bank.

"We are confident of the bank's future prospects. Lending work in progress is at record levels and the outlook for our core economies remains positive."

Heading into the current fiscal year, the bank's loan pipeline totalled €6 billion, compared with €4 billion a year earlier, giving the bank "a strong start" to the year.

In the year ended September, the bank recorded net loan growth of €9.8 billion, bringing customer loans to €34.4 billion, an increase of 40 per cent on last year. Anglo said that the asset quality of its loans remained excellent, with non-performing loans of €187 million representing just 0.5 per cent of the total at the end of September, while margins were stable.

In Ireland, business lending grew by 46 per cent to €19.4 billion, while lending in the UK was up by 27 per cent to €12.5 billion in what Anglo described as the second best year in its 20-year history in the UK.

In the US, where Anglo has expanded beyond Boston with a new office in New York, lending was up by 81 per cent to nearly €2.5 billion.

Outside lending, Anglo's other businesses also performed well. Wealth management saw revenues rise by 25 per cent to €91 million, while treasury sales rose by 49 per cent to €58 million.

Total income at the bank was €977 million, an increase of 35 per cent. Net interest income accounted for nearly three-quarters of this, at €720 million, an increase of 38 per cent.

Fees and commission were up by 31 per cent to €219 million, while dealing profits rose by 25per cent to €16 million.

On the deposit side, total funding increased by 43 per cent to €41.7 billion. Customer deposits now account for 60 per cent of the funding base, with debt securities making up a further 23 per cent. A geographic breakdown of profits shows that Ireland accounted for 58 per cent, the UK for 32 per cent and other regions for 10 per cent.