Close Brothers increases 2012/13 interim dividend by 7%

DividendMax Ltd.

Close Brothers increases 2012/13 interim dividend by 7%

A good result in the first half

The group reports a good result with adjusted operating profit up 26% to £80 million and adjusted basic earnings per share up 31% to 41.8p

The Banking division performed strongly with a 26% increase in adjusted operating profit, reflecting solid loan book growth of 6% and an improved bad debt ratio of 1.2%

In Securities, Winterflood remained consistently profitable in difficult trading conditions with adjusted operating profit of £7 million

Asset Management is on track and delivered a 6% increase in AuM to £8.9 billion

The group maintained a strong funding, liquidity and capital position with a core tier 1 capital ratio of 12.7%

Interim dividend per share increased 7% to 15.0p

Companies mentioned