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Close Brothers sees strong first half, reports rise in loan book

(Reuters) - British lender Close Brothers Group said it expected to report strong results for the first half, driven by strength in its banking division and higher trading income from market maker Winterflood.

The merchant banking group, which provides loans and wealth management and securities trading services, said the loan book at its banking division rose to 6.6 billion pounds over the five-month period ended Dec. 31, from 6.4 billion pounds at the end of July.

Loan book jumped 9.3 percent from a year earlier, driven by growth in the premium finance and property business, the company said.

The banking unit saw stable net interest margins, with lower bad debt ratio, the lender said.

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Market maker Winterflood saw strong retail trading activity throughout the period, Close Brothers said.

The company said in September that Winterflood reported an improvement in retail trading activity, driven in part by Britain's vote to leave the European Union.

Total client assets at Close Brothers' asset management arm fell to 7.8 billion pounds from 8 billion pounds at the end of July, hurt by the disposal of OLIM Investment Managers, which had managed assets worth about 500 million pounds at the end of July.

Close Brothers said it expected to deliver a good outcome for the 2017 financial year.

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Amrutha Gayathri)