Skipton Building Society profits surge

Thursday 2nd August 2012

Skipton Building Society has posted pre-tax profits for the first half of this year which surpass those achieved during the whole of 2011. Profits of £22.3m in the first six months of this year overtook the £22.2m profits made in the whole of last year.

Skipton’s mortgage servicing business, Homeloan Management Ltd (HML), made a profit of £100,000 following a loss of £3.2m in the first half of last year.

There was also a £12m turnaround of its mortgages and savings division, which made a pre-tax profit of £3.9m compared with a loss of £8.1m in the first half of 2011.

Estate agency profits in Skipton subsidiary Connells Group chain rose by £4m, from £15m last year to £19m in the first half of this year.
 
Connells reported increased property sales in both the new and secondhand house markets, growth across lettings and a 21% growth in the Connells mortgage business.

David Livesey, chief executive of Connells Group, said that the business went into the second half of 2012 with a 26% increase in sales pipeline.
 
He went on: “In February 2012 we also took a 25% strategic stake in innovative property fund manager Hearthstone Investments which recently received FSA approval for the UK’s first regulated residential property fund.

“Midlands-based estate agency Burchell Edwards, which we acquired at the end of 2011, is making its first contribution to Connells Group profits. 
 
“Connells’ strategy going forward will focus heavily on the core estate agency business while simultaneously growing our already strong presence in areas including mortgage services, lettings and surveying.

“The Group remains financially strong with no debt and will continue to look for investment and acquisition opportunities as the year progresses.”