Close Brothers’ loan book for motor finance grew by 3% to £1.76bn in the year ending 31 July 2017, 6 points slower than in the previous year, preliminary group results have shown.

This was below average compared to the group’s total loan book, which grew 10% to £6.8bn.

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The “modest” growth in motor finance loans was driven primarily by Ireland.

Operating profits for the retail finance division as a whole, adjusted by expenses and impairments, remained stable at £79m. Adjusted operating profits for the whole banking business, meanwhile, rose 9% to £243.5m.

The retail division’s losses on bad loans saw a jump of 45% from last year. They amounted to £25.8m, out of £40.2 in total impairments for the group’s whole banking business.

Shares for Close Brothers on the London Stock Exchange fell 7% after the results’ release on Tuesday, and at the time of writing were trading at -6% from Monday.

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