Newcastle profit before tax reaches £13.9m in H1

Newcastle Building Society's profit before tax increased to £13.9m in the first half of 2021, up from £2.2m in 2020.

The society's operating profit before impairment and provisions increased by £5.7m to £13.0m, up from £7.3m the previous year.

Gross lending was £483m, up from £357m, and net core residential lending for the first half of the year was £220m, while in the full year in 2020 this figure reached £228m.

The lender's Customer Net Promoter Score increased to +81, up from +78 for 2020, and mortgage arrears remain at low levels at 0.43%.

Newcastle committed £111,000 in community grants focused on supporting employability skills, food poverty and debt management charities.

The average savings interest rate paid to members at 0.83% is over 0.5% more than the market average.

Andrew Haigh, chief executive at Newcastle Building Society, said: “Although we are experiencing positive uplifts in the economy, we are mindful that uncertainty continues to dominate not just the economic environment, but the lives of our members too and is likely to continue for some time.

“The resilience we demonstrated in 2020 laid the necessary foundations to deliver strong results in the first half of 2021, despite COVID-19 restrictions and uncertainties.

"We’ve continued our focus on helping communities recover from the impacts of the pandemic, and driven innovations in home ownership to help borrowers onto the property ladder, particularly those with lower deposits.

“We have continued to focus on the role we play and the difference we can make for our customers and communities across our region.

"While there is no doubt we are not yet clear of the pandemic and all the challenges it brings, we are well placed to move forward with confidence, to continue to invest for the future and to remain focused on delivering on the purpose-led strategy which has served our members, communities and the Society so well throughout.”