Bank of Ireland
This year Bank of Ireland continued its excellent track record of delivering strong, sustainable and quality earnings. Pre-tax profits grew to €1.33bn for the year to March 2005 with a return on equity of 22%, the 12th consecutive year this has exceeded 20%.
The bank’s strong performance is based on the inherent strengths of its business position in two of Europe’s best performing economies, Ireland and the UK. It also has in place a clear, focused strategy designed to exploit the strongly growing dynamics in its markets.
“The strategy of the group is based on geographical and business diversification and is aimed at maximising the return from our leading position in the Irish market, substantially re-shaping and growing our business in the U.K. and developing our portfolio of international niche skill-based businesses,” says CEO Brian Goggin. “To realise the full potential of this growth and expansion strategy we launched a major strategic transformation programme during the year designed to reduce our costs while beginning to build a consolidated operating model. Now is the time to take action to ensure we have the efficiency and flexibility to enhance our competitiveness and to capitalise on growth opportunities while in a position of relative strength.”
