| Master Investor Magazine
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The share price of FTSE 250 financial service firm Virgin Money (LON:VMUK) has risen by 21.84% to 174.22p (as of 15:00 GMT) despite a widening loss before tax for the year ended 30th September, which was caused by higher impairments from IFRS changes. Customer lending in both business and personal grew at good rates with the company’s risk appetites.
CEO David Duffy commented: “In the first year of our newly combined business, we have delivered a good operating performance in challenging conditions and made great progress on the integration and rebrand to Virgin Money.
“Our statutory result was significantly affected by additional PPI provisions, driven by the unprecedented surge in PPI information requests in August, along with anticipated Virgin Money acquisition-related costs.
“Our customer divisions have performed well – we have delivered a further c.£2bn in net lending to support UK SMEs and consumers, attracted c.£3bn in customer deposits, and made marked improvements to our customer experience.
“We achieved all the required approvals in 2019 to enable us to operate as one bank, with one brand, and are ready to deliver our strategy to disrupt the status quo with brilliant customer service and unique Virgin Money products. In December we are launching Virgin Money’s first digital personal current account and three new Virgin Money concept stores. A unique loyalty and rewards programme for customers featuring a number of Virgin Group companies will follow in 2020, along with the launch of our brand new Virgin Money business account“.