Abbey's profits up by a quarter

Santander owns three banking brands in the UK

Bank group Abbey has seen profits for the first three months of the year rise more than a quarter from a year ago.

Pre-tax profits for the group that includes Abbey, Bradford & Bingley and Alliance & Leicester rose by 25% to £372m. Revenue was up by 24%.

The company, which shed 1,900 jobs in December, also said it was on course to cut costs by £180m by the end of 2011.

Abbey's owner, Spanish financial group Santander, reported a 5% fall in net profit to 2.2bn euros ($2.8bn; £1.9bn).

"We have made a very strong start to 2009 with significant growth in profit and revenues. This is an excellent performance delivered in the toughest of economic environments," Abbey said.

The company's overall share of the UK mortgage market stood at 15%, while loans to small and medium-sized businesses rose by 10% over the three months.

The group opened 257,000 new current accounts during the period.

Santander's profits were adversely affected by incorporating Alliance & Leicester and parts of Bradford & Bingley, it said.

The Spanish group bought Alliance & Leicester and the savings arm of nationalised Bradford & Bingley last year as the full effects of the global credit crunch took hold of the UK financial sector.