Leeds Building Society has hailed a “record-breaking” first half that included nine of its ten biggest ever lending days.
The society reported a profit before tax of £146.5m for the six months to 30 June 2022, up from £70.3m in the same period of 2021. This was buoyed by an exceptional fair value adjustment of £42m.
Gross lending climbed to £2.5bn from £2bn with net lending rising to £1.2bn from £600m, both record half-year amounts for the society.
Nine of its ten biggest lending days ever occurred during the first six months of this year, leading to its highest number of completions in the first-half of a year.
Total membership grew to 815,000, including the 9,000 new members who chose the society when deciding to buy their first home.
Lending growth was supported by a corresponding rise in savings balances, with the increase topping £1bn, taking total savings balances to £16.4bn. up from £15.25bn at the end of 2021.
Leeds Building Society chief executive Richard Fearon said: “I’m delighted we’ve delivered a record breaking first half of the year, achieved a series of landmarks across our lending and supported savers at a critical time.
“Being mindful of our roots as a mutual, we’ve reaffirmed our purpose – to put home ownership within reach of more people – and future generations of first-time buyers are integral to our plans.
“We’ve continued to recruit, creating a further 65 skilled jobs, such as adding to the varied and specialist IT skills within the Society,” said Richard.
“One in five of our colleagues now works in a ‘tech’ role and we are successfully trialling hybrid working to make effective use of our energy-efficient new head office in Leeds city centre.
“Developing and future-proofing our operations helps us to carry on doing what we do best, meeting consumer need with product innovation, such as launching mortgages that incentivise greener homes. We have also taken significant steps in reaching net zero as a business and supporting our stakeholders to do the same. Having already achieved carbon neutral status on scope 1 and 2 emissions and business travel, we are now assessing our scope 3 emissions to help us reduce our indirect impact on the environment.”