Loan book cheer for Close Brothers

Close Brothers said its asset management division, which is being restructured, made a small loss in the three months to the end of October, which was expected.

Its loan book grew to 3.1bn after its retail division boosted growth last year.

"The loan book grew somewhat faster than expected," Oriel Securities analyst Keith Baird said, adding this was down to bigger banks pulling back, giving Close "a clearer run".

Chief executive Preben Prebensen said that within the retail business, motor financing had shown good demand, with insurance premium operations benefiting from credit becoming less available from other sources.

"Demand (for credit) has fallen, but supply has fallen much further," said Mr Prebensen, helping the company to counter any concerns about the economic outlook.

He added: "We have seen an improvement in retail and in the commercial area."