London - Virgin Money Holdings reported
resilient demand following Britain's vote to leave the European
Union, helping the bank to a 33 percent rise in full-year
underlying pretax profit.
Underlying pretax profit rose to 213.3 million pounds
($265.07 million) for the year ended Dec.31 from 160.7 million
pounds.
Gross mortgage lending rose 12 percent to 8.4 billion pounds
in the year, winning a 3.4 percent share of the UK mortgage
market.
Read also: Virgin Money bolsters profit
However, the lender's impairment charges rose to 37.6
million pounds from 30.3 million, with most of the rise coming
in its credit card business.
The bank said that was a reflection of a sharp rise in its
credit card lending, which rose 55 percent to 2.4 billion
pounds.