Virgin Money UK’s quarterly update pleases

The share price in FTSE 250 financial services firm Virgin Money UK (LON:VMUK) rose by 4.87% to 173.50p (as of 12:50 GMT) after it reported customer deposit growth and higher business and personal lending during the quarter ended 31st December. Net interest margins remained stable at 160 basis points and management said that they expected this level to remain roughly the same for the full year.

CEO David Duffy said that: “The Group continues to perform well. In a difficult market, our own performance has remained on track and we continue to make strong progress on our ambition to disrupt the status quo.

“We are attracting relationship deposits and delivering growth in customer balances across business and personal, while maintaining our discipline in a competitive mortgage market.

“We have also now delivered on our commitment to lend £6bn to SMEs over the three years to the end of 2019, with £6.5bn lent in total. This included lending of £1.3bn in Scotland, £0.9bn in Yorkshire, £0.9bn in the North West and £0.5bn in the Midlands, demonstrating our support for SMEs across the regions of the UK.

“[…]While sentiment improved following December’s election result, the UK banking market continues to face competitive pressures and uncertainty over the final Brexit settlement. However, we continue to focus on supporting our customers in their everyday lives, delivering on our strategic priorities and meeting our medium-term financial targets.“