Allied Irish Bank (AIB) stuck to its full-year earnings goal today and said all its businesses were performing "very well" thanks to strong customer demand.
Ireland's biggest listed company said in a trading statement that it still expected the percentage increase in its 2007 earnings per share (EPS) to be in the low double digits.
That was a reiteration of guidance originally given in March and repeated at the bank's annual shareholder meeting in May.
"Based on good business trends and pipelines, we are targeting mid to high teen growth in operating profit before bad debt provisions," the company added.
"We expect income to grow by a rate at least 3 per cent higher than costs again this year," it said.
AIB, which is due to report results for the first six months of its business year at the beginning of August, said it expected first half growth to be similar to its full-year forecast in both operating profit and EPS.
Shares in the bank, which were already 2 per cent weaker ahead of the statement, were 2.4 per cent lower at €21.27 by 10.11am versus a 1.9 per cent fall for the broader Irish market .
AIB said it expected US bank M&T Bank Corp, in which it owns a 23.5 per cent stake, to show an "improved performance" for the full year after a "challenging first quarter".
In Ireland, where jitters over the country's economy have hit local banking stocks, AIB said it expected economic growth to slow to around 5 per cent this year but said it still expected loan growth of about 20 per cent in 2007.
"Robust demand from our business customers is a particular feature," it said adding that a slowdown in house price growth was a welcome development.
"The (property) market remains underpinned by positive demographics and we expect mortgage volumes to increase by a low to mid teen percentage this year."