FY profit up sharply to 267 mln euros on accounting gain
CEO says 39;ticked a lot of boxes39; for dividend return
Increases income, profit, return on equity targets

DUBLIN, March 1 Reuters Ireland39;s permanent tsb PTSB posted a jump in annual profit on Wednesday and said it was moving closer to a return to paying dividends after what it has called its onceinageneration purchase of loans from rival Ulster Bank.

PTSB is being transformed into a much larger player under a deal that will see it take on around 7.6 billion euros 8.1 billion of loans and assets from Ulster parent NatWest, which is exiting the Irish market.

It posted a profit before tax of 267 million euros for 2022 versus a loss of 21 million euros a year earlier.

Some 222 million euros of that arose primarily from taking on Ulster39;s mortgage and SME small and mediumsized enterprises loan books, it said.

Its underlying profit before tax rose to 45 million euros from 17 million as it increased new mortgage lending by 40 to 2.6 billion euros, boosting its market share to 18.5.

Shares in PTSB, up 43 year to date ahead of the results, were 3.5 higher at 2.69 euros by 0930 GMT.

The majority stateowned bank has so far taken on 5.2 billion euros of mortgage loans, 25 branches, and a 165 million euro SME loan portfolio from Ulster, and also opened over 160,000 new accounts.

The first half of this year will see it take on a further 1 billion euros of mortgage loans and a 400 million euro asset finance…