Close Brothers Group plc (CBG) Q4 2023 Earnings Call

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Replay transcript excerpt

WEBVTT 00:00:00.031 -- 00:00:05.118 Good morning and welcome to the presentation of Close Brothers' full year 2023 00:00:05.118 -- 00:00:08.984 results. I'll start with a brief reflection on our performance. 00:00:08.984 -- 00:00:11.307 Mike will then take us through our financials. 00:00:11.307 -- 00:00:15.212 I'll then come back to talk about our business and strategy. 00:00:15.212 -- 00:00:19.418 Afterwards, you can submit your questions either via the telephone line or during the 00:00:19.418 -- 00:00:24.485 webcast, which you can submit during the presentation or afterwards. 00:00:24.485 -- 00:00:27.757 We've had a challenging market backdrop. 00:00:27.757 -- 00:00:31.802 where mixed economic conditions in the UK have created substantial uncertainty for our 00:00:31.802 -- 00:00:36.788 consumer and SME customers. Our financial results were impacted by the provisions we 00:00:36.788 -- 00:00:41.794 took in relation to Novitas in the first half, resulting in a material reduction in operating 00:00:41.794 -- 00:00:46.459 profit. We're clearly disappointed with these developments and the impact they've had 00:00:46.459 -- 00:00:51.605 on our financial performance this year. However, we've seen good momentum in banking 00:00:51.605 -- 00:00:56.772 and CBAM in the second half, and we're encouraged with our good start to the 2024 financial 00:00:56.772 -- 00:01:01.310 year. and we're well-placed to move forward on the delivery of our strategy. 00:01:01.310 -- 00:01:05.816 In banking, we've been encouraged by the acceleration of our loan book in half two, with 00:01:05.816 -- 00:01:11.944 growth of 5%, or 8% excluding our businesses in runoff, with strong margins. 00:01:11.944 -- 00:01:16.710 We've accelerated our growth strategy in CBAM and attracted more clients, whic...