2016 Annual Results Show Sustainable Success

Our 2016 results show that that putting ethics at the heart of finance helps people and planet prosper.

We’ve announced another solid set of results with record assets and savings balances for the year ending 31 December 2016.

Our 2016 results continue more than 30 years of uninterrupted profitability demonstrating that values based and purpose-driven finance is successful in the long-term and include:

• Record assets of £173.1m (2015: £145.9m) with a strong asset growth rate of 18.59% (2015: 5.85%)
• Gross lending of £30.7 (2015: £42.1m)
• A surge in savings balances to £163.1m (2015: £134.7m)
• Increased net profit of £920,000 (2015: £881,000)

During the year we experienced high levels of demand for savings accounts and attracted record savings inflows. As the volume of savings was higher than needed to fund lending activity, the Society took measures to limit the increase in funds by restricting applications for new accounts.

In 2016 we lent over £30.7m for sustainable properties and projects, with 94% of mortgages advanced on residential properties (including new builds, renovations and shared ownership) and 6% on community-led housing (including charities, housing co-operatives and community businesses).

The growth in net profit adds to our capital base, increasing our financial strength and enhancing our ability to undertake further lending.

Throughout the year we maintained our commitment to ethical business practices. We’re an accredited Living Wage employer and recently received certification from Pay Compare for transparency in publishing the ratio between the highest basic salary and the lowest full grade available. We were the first building society to be awarded the Fair Tax Mark for responsible tax behaviour and continue to reduce our own environmental impact as well as supporting environmental lending.

Commenting on the results, Chief Executive Paul Ellis explained,

“Our financial success is based on sticking to our core principles: thinking long-term, putting our members first and focussing on our social and environmental impact.

Our priority for 2017 is to continue to grow our mortgage book, particularly supporting more and more people to renovate their homes to a high environmental standard.”

This year our Annual General Meeting and Members’ Meet-up will take place at The Station in Bristol on Saturday 29 April.