Yorkshire Bank in possible float

​Yorkshire Bank could be floated on the stock exchange after its parent company National Australia Bank said ​that exiting ​the​ UK ​is ​an “absolute priority” after writedowns for the troubled business led to a 10 per​ ​cent decline in annual profit​s​.

​NAB’s ​C​EO Andrew Thorburn, who took the helm in August, has moved quickly to clear up ​what the group sees as problem areas.

He has ​already​ sold a big chunk of UK non-performing loans and shuffled key management roles​ as well as offloading​ a minority stake in ​the bank’s​ US unit, Great Western Bancorp via a public offering,​

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

NAB’s UK business, which includes Yorkshire and Clydesdale bank branches, ​is seen as a thorn in ​the group’s​ side, with charges for bad and doubtful debt responsible for annual profit declines​.

Omkar Joshi, a Sydney-based investment analyst​, said:​ ​“I think what’s really positive is that they have reinforced that they want to get out of UK​.”​

NAB said it is examining a range of options for the UK business, including a public float, as its operations ha​ve​ improved to the point where it could get sufficient value out of a sale.

Annual cash earnings at the UK business nearly doubled to ​£​158​m while net interest margin, a core measure of profitability, rose 10 basis points to 2.22 per​ ​cent.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

​Mr Thorburn said:​ “We have an intention to exit the UK. We think there’s an opportunity now that probably wasn’t there before. What we are signalling is that’s our intent, it is an absolute priority.”

NAB paid ​£​420​m for its Clydesdale branches in 1987 and around ​£​900​m for the Yorkshire business in 1990.

​Mr ​Thorburn also said the bank needed ​to ​urgen​tly deal​ with its low-returning assets, including its wealth management arm.

NAB’s overall cash earnings for the year to Sept​ember​ 30 fell to​ ​​£2.8m, marking its second profit drop in three years.​

Related topics: