Bank of Ireland posted a 3.4 per cent rise in full year pre tax profit to €1.12 billion today in line with market forecasts and said its prospects for the current year and beyond were good.
Chief executive Mr Michael Soden said the results were "admirable by anyone's standards" in a difficult year and described his outlook as cautiously optimistic.
The bank, which said it had performed well across all its areas of business despite volatile markets, reported pre-tax profit of €1.122 billion before an exceptional restructuring cost of €37 million.
Bank of Ireland shares have almost doubled in value since last year's September low and which hit a record close of €13.50 yesterday. It said its Irish retail business grew 11 per cent over the year, with the wholesale division up 25 per cent.
Mr Soden said the outlook for Irish operations depended on the economy, which has seen growth drop from more than 10 per cent last year.
"Our own forecasts are that we're looking at 3.5 per cent growth rate for the economy for this year, and for 2003 further growth to five per cent plus," he said.
However he said he was encouraged by recent US indicators that those forecasts might be conservative.
Mr Soden said the bank continued to look for possible bolt-on acquisitions in Britain. "Any acquisition would be skill-based rather than scale-based," he added.