Bailed-out Bank of Ireland announces doubling of profits

Bank of Ireland chief executive Richie Boucher said part of the bank's success followed upturns in the economy both at home and in the UK

Bank of Ireland's profits have more than doubled.

The lender's results for the first half of the year showed its underlying profits soared to 743 million euro compared to 327m euro for the same period last year.

Key factors in the bailed out lender's returns include the turnaround in the Irish and UK economies, a cut in the level of impaired loans by 1 billion euro, a 50% increase in new lending across the group and an 18% growth in new mortgage business.

The State bailed out Bank of Ireland to the tune of 4.7 billion euro and, while it has recouped that, it still holds a 14% stake in the bank which is worth in the region of 1.5 billion euro.

Bank of Ireland Group chief executive Richie Boucher said part of the bank's success followed upturns in the economy both at home and in the UK.

"We have made further good progress against our strategic priorities during the first half of 2015, building on the momentum we have established in recent years," he said.

"We have grown our new lending by 50% and we continue to be the largest lender to the Irish economy.

"We also generated capital at a significant pace and further improved our asset quality.

"Our progress is reflected in our financial performance and we have more than doubled our underlying profit before tax, compared to the same period last year.

We continue to be confident in the Group's prospects.

"The quality of our retail and commercial franchises, the benefits of our diversified business model, our robust capital and funding, our commercially disciplined approach, the stability of our team and our clarity of purpose all combine to give us sustainable competitive advantage.

"The strength and momentum in our businesses gives us confidence in our ability to continue to meet the needs of our customers and focus on our duty to responsibly deliver attractive and sustainable returns to our shareholders."

While Bank of Ireland highlighted its underlying profits before tax, the reports also showed profit before tax was 743m euro for the first half of 2015, more than double the figure for the same period last year of 327m euro.

It also said it continues to be the largest lender in Ireland.