Member Article

127% soar in profits confirms landmark year for Virgin Money

Newcastle-based bank Virgin Money, who were admitted to the Stock Exchange last year, have announced a ‘record performance and profits’ in a landmark year for the company.

Underlying profit before tax soared by 127%, rising to £121.2 million, from £53.4 million in 2013.

The strong growth can be attributed to Virgin delivering strong growth in mortgage, savings and credit card balances. Most significantly, mortgage balances increased to £21.9 billion, up 11.8 per cent against market growth of 1.4%.

Indeed figures look good across the board for the ever popular lender, with net lending of £2.3 billion, giving Virgin a market share of 10.2%. In addition, credit card balances increased to £1.1 billion, up 41%. Moreover, retail deposit balances increased to £22.4 billion, up 6%.

Successfully maintaining focused on a high-quality balance sheet, whilst underpinned by high asset quality and a conservative risk appetite, 2014 has given Richard Branson’s challenger bank an excellent platform to build

Jayne-Anne Gadhia, chief executive, said: “I am delighted to report a 127% increase in underlying profit for 2014 which ended the year at £121.2 million.

“We have made great progress against our objectives to achieve strong growth, maintain our high-quality balance sheet and deliver returns to shareholders.

“We set out to be a credible and effective challenger to the large incumbent banks and I believe we have laid an excellent foundation on which to realise our ambition.

“We now rank in the top six of all UK net mortgage lenders and are among the highest rated retail banks in the UK by Net Promoter Score.

“We aim always to live up to the consumer champion ethos of the Virgin brand and our conservative approach to risk and strong financial performance go hand in hand with our commitment to serve the needs of customers and communities.

“Following the progress made in 2014 I am pleased to report that we expect to be admitted to the FTSE 250 on 20 March 2015.

“Our staff are at the heart of Virgin Money and I would like to thank them for their hard work throughout what has been a landmark year for the business.

“I am pleased we are able to reward all eligible employees with a share in success bonus on top of their normal bonus awards, to add to the £1,000 of shares that all employees received on listing.”