(Alliance News) - Manx Financial Group PLC on Tuesday said it remained cautious amid continued high interest rates, while posting a profit and revenue jump for last year.

The Isle of Man-based financial services company said pretax profit climbed 35% to GBP7.0 million in 2023 from GBP5.2 million in 2022.

Manx shares jumped 14% to 25.58 pence each on Tuesday afternoon in London.

Revenue grew 57% to GBP45.4 million from GBP29.0 million.

Net interest income edged up 33% to GBP32.4 million from GBP24.5 million.

Interest expenses meanwhile more than doubled to GBP14.5 million from GBP6.4 million, while fee and commission expenses doubled to GBP7.3 million from GBP3.6 million.

"I believe that the high interest rate environment will persist during 2024 and this will continue to dampen our net interest margin, but it should not reduce the demand for our products. Shorter term lending in particular - loans less than 12 months - will continue to be much in demand for small businesses and consumers alike," Executive Chair Jim Mellon said.

He added: "Whilst I remain cautious about overall organic growth this year, accretive acquisition opportunities are available. We will remain prudent in our approach to these opportunities, and we will only progress such acquisitions if they can be delivered without any shareholder dilution."

By Tom Budszus, Alliance News slot editor

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