Strong revenue growth and tight cost controls will lift the first-half profit of Royal Bank of Scotland Group, which owns Ulster Bank and First Active, in line with market expectations, the bank said today.
Analysts are forecasting that Royal Bank will deliver annual pre-tax profit of around 7.85 billion pounds ($14.4 billion) before goodwill and the integration of acquisitions, up from 7.15 billion pounds last year.
"Good momentum continues across each of our businesses and we are on track to deliver strong organic growth in income whilst continuing to improve efficiency," Chief Executive Mr Fred Goodwin said in the statement.
The bank added that its credit quality remained strong.
Royal Bank said its dealing profits had a "good underlying momentum". The net interest margin, which measures lending profitability, would narrow from last year. But, excluding increased mortgage lending and growth in rental assets, the
margin was stable.
It said the inclusion of First Active would result in a lower net interest margin.
The bank said there had been an increase in bad debt provisions for personal lending but bad debt charges as a percentage of total loans were improving. Credit quality for corporate loans was also stronger, it added.
Royal Bank announced eight acquisitions last year and the bank said today that all were performing well, with integration on track.
Royal Bank's pre-tax profit before goodwill and integration. The bank will announce its first-half results on August 3rd.