Close Brothers Group Plc (CBG.L) provided its scheduled pre-close trading update ahead of its 2012 financial year end.
The company stated that trading performance remains consistent with the group's interim management statement on May 17. Whilst the Banking division has continued to deliver strong growth, difficult trading conditions for Winterflood have continued to impact the group's overall performance.
According to Close Brothers, the Banking division delivered another strong performance in the period. The loan book increased a further 10% to 4.1 billion pounds at June 30, 2012, and is up 20% financial year to date.
The Securities division continues to experience difficult market conditions and Winterflood has been affected by low retail investor risk appetite throughout the period, noted the company. Besides, the Asset Management division is nearing completion of its restructuring and made a small loss as expected. Private Clients Assets under Management remained unchanged at 6.9 billion pounds at June 30, 2012 as positive net new funds were offset by negative market movements.
Looking forward, the company said in Securities, difficult market conditions continue to affect Winterflood and its second half performance is expected to be broadly in line with the first half. Overall the group continues to expect a solid performance for the year.
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