PTSB directors buy small number of shares in the bank

Three non-executive directors at PTSB have bought small numbers of shares in the bank this week.

Anne Bradley, a former IAG executive who was appointed a non-executive director of PTSB in 2021, has acquired an initial 6,277 shares for a total of €9,869.

Marian Corcoran, a former board member of Accenture Ireland, joined the PTSB board in 2019. She has bought 4,500 shares in the bank for €7,132.

Celine Fitzgerald, who also joined the board in 2021, has previous experience in the managed services and telecoms sectors. She has also bought an initial 6,227 shares.

Chairperson Julie O’Neill bought 10,000 shares last month for a total of €16,100 and now owns 20,000 shares in the bank.

Shares in PTSB have declined about 35pc in the past year.

Controlled by the State, PTSB last month reported an underlying profit before tax for 2023 of €166m – compared with €45m in 2022 – boosted by its new former Ulster Bank loans.

But its shares sank after it lowered its guidance for 2024 and 2025 and chief executive Eamonn Crowley said that PTSB is unlikely to start paying dividends again until 2026. Last month, global investment bank Goldman Sachs revealed that it has taken a near 6pc stake in PTSB.

Other shareholders in PTSB include Sretaw Private Equity, the investment firm controlled by Irish entrepreneur Eamon Waters. Sretaw currently has a 7pc stake in the lender. He also has a more than 10pc stake in stock market-listed Irish insurer FBD and a holding in Irish hotel operator Dalata.

PTSB’s total performing loan book stood at €20.9bn at the end of 2023. That was €1.8bn higher than a year earlier. The growth was driven by business banking and consumer finance, which offset a decline in new mortgage lending.

New consumer term lending was broadly in line with the prior year, at €2.8bn, while new mortgage lending of €2.3bn was 11pc lower year-on-year. But the lender had a bigger, 19pc share of a smaller market. It recorded a pre-tax profit of €79m following inclusion of negative goodwill after the purchase of the retail and business banking operations from Ulster Bank.

Customer deposits rose to €23bn, but costs jumped 25pc to €496m across the year as the workforce expanded. Even so, the bank’s cost to earnings ratio declined.

Mr Crowley said the bank is now positioned as “a real challenger” to AIB and Bank of Ireland.