Irish Life & Permanent posted a better-than-expected 14 per cent rise in first-half operating profit this morning and said it was hopeful about its prospects for 2003 as a whole.
"We remain cautiously optimistic for the full-year outcome," Chief Executive David Went said in a statement.
The State's third-biggest financial company reported operating profit, or earnings before interest and tax, of 189.5 million euros in the first six months of 2003, with adjusted earnings per share up to 58.2 euro cents from 53.8 cents in the same period of last year.
The results were ahead of market expectations, helped by a strong performance from Irish and British banking operations, which compensated for weakness on the life & pensions side.
Operating profit from banking and other activities increased 68 per cent to 74.8 million euros, offsetting a fall in operating profit from life activities to 96.9 million euros from 109.4 million previously.
Mr Went said the company was hopeful the life and pensions market would begin to see signs of recovery in the second half.
The group was in "an extremely strong" position in the Irish retail financial services market going forward and would continue to benefit from cost initiatives in all its operations, he added.
IL&P announced an interim dividend of 15.0 cents, a rise of five per cent.
Finance Director Peter Fitzpatrick said the company was hopeful the life and pensions market would begin to show signs of recovery in the second half.
"We're reasonably ambitious for the second half but let's wait and see -- you can't be too racy in your assumptions," he said.
"We've had a very good start to the year - 14 percent up - but the market expects growth to be flattish to down for the year overall," he said.
David Odlum, analyst at NCB Stockbrokers, said the figures looked "very strong", with the EPS contribution of 58.2 cents significantly beating NCB's estimate of 51.4 cents.
He noted that even the life side performance - flagged as weak in a trading statement earlier in the year - had exceeded expectations in terms of new business and margins.
"Overall, it's pretty encouraging," he said, adding he would be upgrading his forecasts on the back of the results.
NCB is looking for a full year EPS contribution of 103.5 cents compared to 107 cents last year.
Mr Odlum also welcomed a five per cent rise in the group's interim dividend to 15.0 cents.