Challenger bank Onesavings posted a confident update on its outlook for the year ahead this morning, causing its share price to rise.
The bank, which focuses on specialist mortgage lending and retail savings, said its loan book grew by five per cent in the first quarter of this year.
Net loans and the shorter-term advances expanded by £368m to £7.7bn, as loan originations hit £689m "at attractive margins".
Read more: OneSavings Bank shares sink after JC Flowers flogs a 10 per cent stake for £96m
"Our lending and retail savings franchises remain strong and, given current levels of applications in our core buy-to-let and commercial businesses, we are confident that we can deliver at least mid-teens net loan book growth this year," said Onesavings' chief executive Andy Golding.
With the loan growth "modestly" upgraded, analysts at Shore Capital reiterated a "buy" recommendation and noted that a takeover approach could be imminent "should its shares continue to languish at such low earnings multiples".
Investec analysts echoed this, saying the bank's shares should be "awarded an overdue re-rating" or raised through a merger or acquisition.
Investec's Ian Gordon added that the originations were a new first-quarter record for the business.
The share price, which had risen 1.8 per cent in early trading to 416.4p, was enough to lift Onesavings' market value back across the £1bn threshold.
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