Bank reports 50% fall in profit

Virgin Money has provided its half year results to 31 March 2020.

The bank reports its underlying profit is down 58% year on year to £120m

As a response to the current crisis, the firm has not furloughed any staff and has put on hold previously announced redundancies. The bank has also to date supported 4,500 businesses with lending facilities during the current crisis including CBILS.

The chief executive, David Duffy said: “The COVID-19 outbreak and its impact on the nation’s businesses and consumers has markedly changed the operating environment, driving an increased impairment charge of £232m against future loan losses and a reduction in underlying profitability.

“We delivered a resilient performance and continued to make good progress on our self-help strategy in the first half of the year. Our primary objective now is to safeguard the health and well-being of our customers, colleagues and communities while also protecting the bank.

Duffy warned that the bank is expecting “a sharp shock to the UK economy before a gradual recovery” but that there were still uncertainties.

“Undoubtedly COVID-19 will have significant implications for us and the wider economy; however, I feel confident that our agility, digital capabilities and focus on disrupting the status quo will equip us to best support changing customer needs and play our part in the UK’s economic recovery longer-term”