Silver linings for YBS despite profit drop

CHIEF executive of Yorkshire Building Society Chris Pilling said he was pleased with the “robust performance” in difficult markets, despite a drop in pre-tax profits at the business.

The building society posted half year pre-tax profits of £99.9m, down from the same period to June 2015 when PBT reached £111.2m.

The company said this was expected due to current market conditions in the mortgage sector particularly, as well as reductions in margins from historic, higher margin loans, including types of lending YBS no longer undertakes.

It said it did not wish to maximise profits, but to keep them at a sustainable level.

Growth in savings balances to £29.4bn up from the half year to £27.9bn) and helped 3,000 people buy their first home.

The company, which earlier this year won the Pride/CSR Award at TheBusinessDesk.com’s Yorkshire Business Masters said that although it worked primarily in domestic markets, it would be monitoring the fallout from the Brexit decision.

It also warned that a slowdown in emerging markets may affect them, as well as the squeeze on public spending and changes to tax and stamp duty on Buy to Let lending.

Chris Pilling, Yorkshire Building Society chief executive, who announced last month that he would be stepping down at the end of 2016 , said: “I’m pleased to report a robust financial performance during what remains a highly competitive and challenging market in line with our financial plans.

“We have continued to offer good long-term value to our 3.3m customers at the same time as achieving healthy levels of profit which maintain our financial strength and sustainability.

“In the first half of the year, against a backdrop of an unpredictable economic environment and competitive trading conditions, we have remained true to our mutual ethos, focusing on our core mortgages and savings business to help people buy the homes they want and to save for their futures.

“Despite the challenges the Society and other financial services providers may face as a result of economic and political uncertainty, we remain in a strong position to continue investing in, and growing our business on behalf of our members.”

 An ongoing investment programme prompted YBS in January to announce that it would be closing 22 of its 230 branches, with 13 jobs at risk.