Bank of Ireland said today its trading environment remained positive and it expected a "satisfactory outcome" to its full financial year.
"Looking forward, the environment in which we operate continues to be positive," the bank's governor Laurence Crowley told its annual shareholder meeting.
"We have a clear strategy, and we are well positioned for growth. I expect a satisfactory outcome for the year."
Shares in the bank, Ireland's second biggest company by market capitalisation after rival Allied Irish Banks, were 1.2 per cent lower at €13.24 by 11.30am on a slightly lower Dublin market.
Analysts said the statement contained no surprises. "It's as expected. We anticipate a good performance for the year, and that seems to be what they're guiding," one Dublin-based analyst said.
Bank of Ireland delivered a 7 per cent rise in profit for the 12 months to March 2005 and said at the time of its results that strong economies in its main Irish and UK markets gave it optimism for the coming year.
In March the bank announced it was cutting more than 2,000 jobs and streamlining some of its services in order to reduce costs by €120 million over the next four years.