Irish Life & Permanent (IL&P) beat forecasts today with a 23 per cent jump in first-half pre-tax operating profits.
IL&P said operating profit rose to €242 million in the six months to end-June, with operating earnings per share (EPS) rising to 81.3 cents from 62.3 cents in the same period of 2005.
Chief Executive David Went said the group had achieved "terrific" momentum across all its main businesses. "All the key indicators for the rest of the year remain positive and we have great confidence the coming months will see us build on this performance and return a very strong set of results for the year as a whole," he said in a statement.
IL&P reported that operating profit in its life business grew 23 per cent in the first half to €134 million, with profit on the banking side up 36 per cent at €90 million.
The group announced an interim dividend of 20.1 cents, up from 17.7 cents previously.