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London - Virgin Money, the British financial group backed by Richard Branson, said on Wednesday it returned to profitability at the end of its fourth quarter and expects to deliver an annual profit in 2013.
Its strong profit growth stemmed from its takeover of nationalised lender Northern Rock in January 2012, the group said in a trading update.
The number of customer accounts have risen by 1.7 million since the acquisition, while retail deposit balances and mortgage balances have seen growth of 14% and 19% respectively, it said.
It reported an underlying loss of £8.4m for 2012, compared to £59.1m a year earlier, but forecast an annual profit on an underlying basis for 2013.
The bank also said its core Tier One ratio stood at 18%, compared to the 7% ratio that regulators have demanded that British banks achieve by the end of the year.
"We are well positioned for continued strong growth and look forward with great optimism," said CEO Jayne-Anne Gadhia in a statement.
In January the group bought £1bn of assets from Bank of America's MBNA unit and said it plans to launch its own credit card arm.
