IrishLife tumbles after third quarter stats reveal rising bad loan provisions
BANCASSURER Irish Life & Permanent saw its shares fall by as much as 15 per cent in morning trading yesterday as it revealed rising impairments in its loan book.
In a statement described by analysts as “very weak”, the company said total bad debt provisions for the three years to 2011 had risen from €700m (£619m) to €800-900m. Irish Life saw fluctuations in the value of its life business investments and write-downs to its commercial property portfolio.
Life sales for 2009 are expected to be 35 per cent down year-on-year while new loan advances in the bank’s consumer finance division will be 80 per cent lower.
Oliver Gilvarry, analyst at Dolmen Stockbrokers, said: “This is a very weak set of results which shows how trouble in the Irish economy has fed through into the life business.”
Traders drew some comfort from Irish Life’s reduced reliance on ECB funding, down to €7bn from €12bn at the end of June, and a 20 per cent increase in retail deposits. Its shares closed 12.4 per cent down at €3.90.