IFG'S UK and international divisions will compensate for any downturn in its Irish property-related business, chief executive Mark Bourke, told shareholders at the company's annual general meeting yesterday.

"Everyone is aware of the difficulties in the property market. Volumes are down and it is difficult for broker companies like us. We would have expectations of a considerable drop in the performance overall of the property division. but that will be compensated by the performance of the other divisions."

Speaking after the agm, Mr Bourke said that the value of mortgage cheques issued by lenders by way of IFG's mortgage broker business would fall to €0.9-€1 billion from €1.41 billion last year.

While he said the backdrop for the property market was "pretty horrific", he said that property-related business in Ireland only accounted for 12 per cent of the group's profits and that 80 per cent of profits are generated outside of Ireland. Mr Bourke said IFG was expanding its trustee and administration business overseas to counter any downturn in its Irish mortgage business.

"That gives us a very robust base and therefore the shock absorbency to deal with any of the issues that come up on the property side," he said. On Monday, IFG announced that it had bought Excel-Serve Management, a corporate and trustee services business in Cyprus. "Cyprus serves eastern Europe and Russia. You are looking at a huge amount of wealth generation there, particularly based on commodities and oil. It is absolutely key we develop in Cyprus," said Mr Bourke.

Shareholders were told that the overall performance in the current year, despite very difficult markets, is in line with expectations and that the company remains confident of achieving its full year target of an earnings-per-share of 25 cents to 26 cents.