Financial services group IFG is on the brink of a €25 million acquisition in the UK which will add significantly to the group's recurring income in the years ahead.
After IFG announced its results for the year to the end of December, chief executive Mr Richard Hayes said the acquisition of the pensions trustee company should be completed in a matter of days. Last year, IFG generated recurring fee income of €16.1 million and brokers NCB have pencilled in a rise in this regular source of income to €19 million based on new business written in 2001.
The financial results from IFG - when adjusted for various positive and negative once-off factors - are "bang in line" according to Davy, or "relatively disappointing" according to Goodbody. Pre-tax profits were up 70 per cent to €14.1 million while earnings per share were up 17 per cent to 18.63 cents. That earnings figure includes a one cent per share profit on the sale of a 75 per cent stake in IFG's online business and another one cent per share profit on the sale of investments.
On the negative side, the earnings figure includes a 1.3 cent charge related to tax due in respect of the 1995-96 period and a 2.3 cent charge against a writedown of the value of the group's endowment policies.
A growth area for IFG is its mortgage business in Ireland where mortgages worth more than €554 million were written last year, an increase of more than 20 per cent.
