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DUBLIN, Aug 2 (Reuters) - Permanent TSB (PTSB) followed Ireland's two other banks in raising full-year guidance on Wednesday after higher interest rates boosted its first-half profits and the departure of rivals boosted its market share.
Bank of Ireland and AIB reported bumper profits in recent days, benefiting from higher rates but also the exits of KBC and NatWest's Irish units that allowed the three surviving banks to buy billions of euros worth of loans and add hundreds of thousands of new customers.
PTSB, which has been transformed into a much larger player thanks to a deal with NatWest to acquire 6.75 billion euros of mortgage and SME loans, swung to an 86 million-euro ($94 million) first-half profit versus a 2 million-euro loss a year ago.
As a result of that deal and 36% year-on-year growth in new lending, the majority state-owned bank's share of the new mortgage market rose to 23.1% from 16.3% a year ago.
It said it now expects total income to jump by 65% to 680 million euros this year, higher than its previous guidance of 650 million following further recent European Central Bank interest rate hikes.
The mortgage-focused lender also said it expected its cost/income ratio to improve to under 65% from the prior guidance of below 70%, even with costs expected to be around 25% higher this year.
The Irish state holds 57.4% of PTSB and NatWest has a 11.7% shareholding after they sold a combined 10% stake in the bank in June, the first time since 2015 that the government has offloaded shares in the lender it effectively nationalised a decade ago. ($1 = 0.9098 euros) (Reporting by Padraic Halpin; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
