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21 Mar 2024
Secure Trust Bank : Good u/l FY23 performance - Buy

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Secure Trust Bank : Good u/l FY23 performance - Buy
Secure Trust Bank Plc (STB:LON) | 949 -170.8 (-1.9%) | Mkt Cap: 181.0m
- Published:
21 Mar 2024 -
Author:
Jens Ehrenberg, CFA | Rahim Karim, CFA -
Pages:
8 -
Good u/l FY23 performance – FY23 u/l PBT was up 9% yoy to £42.6m (+1% vs. FactSet consensus). This was driven by operating income up 9% yoy to £184.7m, partly offset by operating expenses up 7% yoy to £99.7m (in-line with our expectations) and cost of risk up 13% yoy to £43.2m (9% lighter vs. our expectations and stable in relative terms at 1.4%). Reported EPS was down 28% yoy to 129.6p, predominantly driven by exceptionals relating to Borrowers in Financial Difficulty as well as corporate activities, driving FY DPS to 32.2p. The Group’s capital position remained solid with a CET1 ratio of 12.7%.
+4% adj. PBT upgrade in outer year – The Group has delivered strong loanbook growth across all divisions during the period. This, together with further strategic progress made during the period, underpins the maintained medium-term targets. Additionally, the Group has now moved to a progressive dividend policy, which should avoid the impact from exceptional items going forward. We update our forecasts on the back of the Group’s results and, whilst keeping our FY24E adj. PBT expectations flat, upgrade FY25E by 4% based on better opex and cost of risk expectations. We also implement the Group’s revised dividend policy which implies attractive >5% dividend yields going forward.
Reiterate Buy rating on new 1,786p TP – We are encouraged by the Group’s u/l performance and strategic progress and continue to believe that regulatory concerns are overdone given limited historic loanbook exposure. As a result of our revised forecasts, we increase our TP to 1,786p (from 1,736p, previously) and reiterate our Buy rating.