OSB Group reports strong Q3 trading

OSB Group said that it delivered a "strong" financial and operating performance during the third quarter.

Organic originations slipped from £1.6bn in the same quarter one year before to £1.3bn.

For the first nine months of the year meanwhile, underlying and statutory net loans were up by 7% to £25.2bn, with three month plus arrears balances stable at 1.3%.

"There was no material change in the Group’s forward-looking macroeconomic scenarios in the third quarter," the specialist lender said.

Management also highlighted the successful inaugural sale of £300m of senior debt, which it dubbed an importante milestine towards meeting its 22.5% minimum requirement for own funds and eligible liabilities.

That would support "further distributions" once the capital stack was fully optimised, OSB said.

On the outlook, the firm reiterated its full-year guidance for an underlying net interest margin of about 2.6% and an underlying cost to income ratio of about 33%.

"Given the strong lending performance to date, particularly in retentions, we now expect to deliver underlying1 net loan book growth of c.9%."

As of 1406 GMT, shares of OSB Group were rising by 15.53% to 333.20p.