Highlights include:-
- Total assets up 15.86% to £3,578.2 million.
- Reserves grew 6.1% to £199.3 million.
- Mortgage lending passed the £1,000 million landmark, up 39.3% on last year.
- Savings balances increased to £2,882.5 million.
- Pre-tax profit of £18.7 million.
Commenting on the Society’s performance, the Principality’s Chief Executive, Peter Griffiths, said: “2003 has been an extremely challenging, rewarding and highly enjoyable year. We have seen successful growth in our core business against a backcloth of intense competition. The team has delivered a strong set of results and the business is “on track” with its plans to put in place the infrastructure needed to underwrite a successful future.”
He went on to say that, as planned, 2003 had been a year of significant investment in the organisation’s overall capability. The Society has created 95 new jobs in Wales, it has invested in the innovative application of new technologies and is working hard to streamline processes and improve productivity and efficiency so that operating costs are contained. In a year of significant investment where costs have increased, pre-tax profits are robust and customers have continued to benefit from competitive products and improved service.
Peter Griffiths continued: “We are bucking the trend in the financial services sector through a phased programme of branch openings, relocations and renovations. We are strongly committed to our presence on the high streets of Wales and will be opening a new branch in Wrexham later this week on 28 February, and are actively seeking out opportunities in other key Welsh locations. We are continuing to build on our reputation for trusted credible advice, and have invested further in improving the breadth and reach of our advisory services to address the long-term individual needs of our customers.
“In a hugely buoyant market, particularly for remortgage business, the Society maintained its prudent approach to lending. We will shortly introduce a revised portfolio of new products in the area of buy-to-let, self-build and bridging finance and will selectively provide support for non-traditional loans. Our planned move into Commercial Lending has proved to be a major success and we will seek to replicate those achievements in other areas as we build new profitable business lines for the future.”
Peter Alan Limited, the Society’s wholly-owned estate agency subsidiary, turned in a new record performance with pre-tax profit of £1.17 million, and continued to introduce high volumes of mortgage business to the Society.
Looking ahead, Principality Chairman, Peter Davies, added: “Investment in infrastructure will continue into 2004, with the objective of providing the Society’s customers with an even better service and greater choice in the way they conduct their business with us.
“2004 will also bring the implementation of the Financial Services Authority’s mortgage regulation and with it a significant increase in the cost of regulatory compliance. We are well prepared for these changes and the demands this will place upon us.
“Our Board firmly believes that our customers’ interests are best served by the Principality remaining a mutual society and we have committed to retaining this status.”
The Principality Group employs almost 800 members of staff throughout Wales and the borders, and is a major supporter of community projects through initiatives such as the Partnership Awards scheme, which helped to fund 83 grass-roots initiatives during 2003.
