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Dudley Building Society celebrates strong performance at the half way point

The Dudley Building Society is celebrating a strong performance so far this year, with record lending to new housebuyers.

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Inside one of the new look branches

Half way through its 160th year, the building society, based at Brierley Hill, has already racked up pre-tax profits of £912,000

At the same time the society's total assets have grown to a record £419 million, resulting in the Dudley moving up in the building society league tables.

Newly released figures covering the period from the beginning of April to the end of September show the society has also achieved record growth in its lending and an increase in deposits from its retail savers.

Mortgage growth in the first half of the year has outpaced the rest of the UK market at 8.3 per cent as gross lending grew to a record £38 million.

The healthy figures underline the success of the Dudley's transformation from a local building society to a national operator. Around 70 per cent of its mortgage borrowers now come from outside the West Midlands, although most of its savers are still based close to home around its five branches across the Black Country.

Chief executive Jeremey Wood said: "We are delighted to be announcing such strong half year results. I believe building societies are more popular than ever with consumers.

"We have been very clear about the way in which we have structured and delivered the growth in our business on behalf of our members. We have delivered on the ambition we set ourselves and returned profit levels that are essential to ensure the society’s continued investment."

He added: "It is a very competitive market, so to be doing what we are doing and to be achieving the results we are achieving is really quite outstanding. And it is providing jobs in the Black Country, where the local economy is benefitting from us as a successful local business.

"We now employ 110 people; five years ago we had 70 staff, so that is growth of more than 50 per cent in that time. That is something we are quite proud of."

Among the figures revealed in the interim report is that the Dudley enjoys a low level of arrears across its mortgage lending. At the same time savings balances have increased by £20.5 million taking overall deposits to a record £393.9 million, as its members who save, save more. The average savings account balance per member increasing by six per cent.

Jeremy added: "We are seeing steady increases in our members’ deposits; effectively funding the growing demand for mortgages across the country. I believe that this trajectory will remain positive as long as we ensure measured and calculated growth – not only as one building society out of 43, but the economy as whole. In spite of uncertainty in the country, we have continued to grow in our chosen markets and deliver high quality, profitable business."