Strong results for Skipton Building Society

SKIPTON BUILDING SOCIETY has seen profit before tax increase by over £50m to £156.8m, helped by strong growth in membership, savings and mortgages.

In its annual results for 2014, the UK’s fourth largest building society saw a 31,000 increase in members to 795,000 while savings balances grew 11.7%, up £1.2bn to £11.4bn.

Skipton’s mortgage book grew by £1.3bn to £12.7bn, while its gross residential mortgage lending up was up 23% to £3bn.

The sale of subsidiaries generated a combined profit of £25.8m, the mutual said.

David Cutter, Skipton’s group chief executive, said: “It remains a difficult environment for savers, with Bank Base Rate held at 0.5% for six years, but it is pleasing to report growth of more than 11% in both savings and mortgage balances, well in excess of market growth, demonstrating a balanced performance and our competitive pricing. I am delighted that Skipton was ranked the third highest financial services provider in the UK for the level of customer experience excellence.

“A strong growth in membership, excellent underlying profits and a robust capital position give us the foundation to enhance our customer proposition as we seek to fulfil our vision of ‘Building a Better Society’.”