Irish Life and Permanent (ILP) today issued a trading statement ahead of its closed period which indicated a good performance, in line with expectations, for the year.
Looking ahead the statement said that in its key operations, there was a very strong pipeline of new lending and a continued recovery in its life business. It said the residential mortgage market remains robust.
Full year life sales in Ireland, excluding investment sales by ILIM, will be down, as guided, by approximately 22% reflecting the SSIA impact in the prior year numbers. Excluding SSIA sales of €101m in 2002 the retail life division's sales for the year are expected to be ahead by over 16%.
The statement indicated strength in new residential mortgage lending, expected to be up 30% for the year, and growth in the overall loan book in the region of 17%.
The bank said that new lending enjoyed strong growth through the year, driven by buoyant demand for residential mortgages. After the sharp fall in life sales in the first half - principally reflecting the impact of the government sponsored SSIA products in the prior year - life sales growth resumed in the second half of 2003.
Gross new lending for the group in Ireland and the UK is expected to be just under €6 billion for the full year, representing growth of over 30%. New residential mortgage lending in Ireland is expected to grow by about 30% for the year while new mortgage lending in the UK by Capital Home Loans will exceed the strong growth performance of the first half.
Consumer finance lending enjoyed a strong second half with new lending growth of 11% expected for the full year.
The statement said both the retail and corporate life divisions enjoyed strong second half growth with combined second half sales expected to show growth of over 15% over the corresponding period in 2002. The main driver of the strong second half performance has been pensions and, in particular, the success enjoyed in the new PRSA pensions market.
Fund management group ILIM had new investment inflows up circa 30% on 2002 on the back of continued strong fund performance.
The contribution from banking for the year is expected to be strongly ahead of 2002, because of gains arising from the repositioning of a proportion of the bank's gilt portfolio in the first half of the year.
