Manx Financial turns corner into the black

20th Aug 2013 14:23

Investors piled into small cap bank Manx Financial as it bounced back into the black in the first half of the year. Executive Chairman Jim Mellon, a well-known entrepreneur and fund manager, said the company had turned a corner and confirmed the bottom line total comprehensive income was lifted from a £0.57m loss to £0.26m for six months to end June, with a pre-tax profit of £0.31m from a previous £0.72m loss. Mellon said the improvement was not solely driven by the cost reduction exercise undertaken last year but by a significant growth in sustainable income. The group, which operates through Conister Bank and financial advisers Edgewater Associates, increased net interest income 44% to £3.68m.Loans were increased 23% to £64.9m and customer deposits 18% to £67.9m, with the deposit-to-loan ratio improved from 92% at the end of 2012 to 96%.Conister Bank increased earnings on a like-for-like basis by 6.3 times to £1.01m, mostly from lending. Mellon stressed that this was not bolstered by one-off adjustments and will, he believed, "be sustainable in this economic environment".He bemoaned that the company's market capitalisation was less than shareholder equity, when the results were published, which was £7.97m.After shares in Manx rose 46% to 9.5p at 14:39 on Tuesday, having topped 12p in earlier trading, the market cap stood at £10.7m.OH