By Elena Vardon
OSB Group lifted its loan book growth guidance for 2023 as it posted a strong lending for the third-quarter of the year, and said its chief financial officer intends to retire.
The specialist lending and retail savings group now expects to deliver underlying net loan book growth of around 9% for the year given its lending performance, particularly in retentions, it said Thursday. This compares with previous guidance of around 7%.
For the three months ended Sept. 30, it completed 1.3 billion pounds ($1.6 billion) of new lending, while retail deposits rose by 5%.
Underlying and statutory net loans rose to 25.2 billion pounds ($30.6 billion) over the first nine months of the year, a 7% increase compared with Dec. 31.
The London-listed group said that it is on track to deliver underlying net interest margin of around 2.6% and an underlying cost to income ratio of around 33% for 2023, adding that this is despite the rising cost of retail funds and the impact of planned future minimum requirements for funds and eligible liabilities, or MREL, issuance.
“Looking ahead, whilst the outlook for the U.K. economy and the overall mortgage market remains somewhat unclear, the fundamental drivers of demand in the private rented sector continue to be robust,” Chief Executive Andy Golding said.
The company said in a separate statement that CFO April Talintyre will retire from the role and as a director after 11 years with the business, and that a process to appoint her successor has started.
At 0840 GMT, shares were up 22 pence, or 7.6%, at 310.4 pence.
Write to Elena Vardon at elena.vardon@wsj.com
