SHAWBROOK GROUP PLC (Reuters) - Shawbrook Group (>> Shawbrook Group PLC) has seen continued demand for property finance and consumer loans after Britain's vote to leave the European Union, though demand from small and medium sized firms (SMEs) is lower than last year, it said on Thursday.
The lender reported a 19 percent jump in net loans and advances to customers to 4 billion pounds in the first nine months of this year, and said it had seen minimal impact from the "Brexit" vote on June 23.
Investec analysts said net loan growth in the third quarter should prompt a small upgrade to analysts' full-year consensus forecast, given the current estimate of 4.1 billion pounds.
Shawbrook's loans and advances were 3.78 billion pounds for the six months ended June.
At 1100 GMT, its shares were up 11.8 percent at 237.4 pence, the biggest rise on London's FTSE Midcap index <.FTMC>.
Keefe, Bruyette & Woods analysts noted the stock had underperformed other UK small and mid-cap banks recently.
"Prior to the referendum, businesses were deferring investments and they continue to ... because they continue to have uncertainty ... Working capital demand is robust, asset finance demand less so," Shawbrook CEO Steve Pateman told Reuters.
Pateman said the firm would not lower prices or relax lending criteria in an effort to stoke demand from SMEs, but would instead wait for loan appetite to return.
The segment accounts for 25 percent of Shawbrook's business, while property finance makes up 60 percent.
Rival Virgin Money (>> Virgin Money Holdings (UK) PLC) gave no update on Tuesday on when it might resume a plan to lend to SMEs, after mothballing the initiative in the wake of the Brexit vote.
Shawbrook said its property finance division reported record loan applications in the third quarter, despite the usual slowdown in the property market during August.
"Buy-to-let has continued to be strong... there has been good growth in second charge mortgages as well as our short term lending business," Pateman said. A second charge mortgage is a secured loan which uses the borrower's home as security
(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Vyas Mohan and Mark Potter)
By Noor Zainab Hussain
