(Reuters) - Aldermore (LONDON:ALD) Group Plc's profit more than doubled in the first half of the year, beating expectations, as the up-and-coming British lender issued more mortgages and loans to small and medium-sized businesses.
The bank's stock rose as much as 10 percent, making it the top gainer on the FTSE-350 Banks Financial Index early on Thursday.
Aldermore, the latest in a wave of banks to list in London with the aim of challenging Britain's "Big 5" lenders, reported underlying pretax profit of 44 million pounds for the six months ended June.
This was above the consensus forecast of 40 million pounds compiled by Aldermore with input from eight analysts.
The so-called 'challenger' bank joins rivals Virgin Money (LONDON:VM), OneSavings Bank Plc and Shawbrook Group Plc in reporting a bigger first-half profit, fuelled by greater lending to small and medium-sized enterprises.
Aldermore said on Thursday it was on track for net loan growth of about 1.4 billion pounds, or 30 percent, for full-year 2015.
RBC Capital raised its rating on the stock to "outperform" and increased its target price to 325 pence from 300 pence, citing lower-than-expected impairments.
Aldermore's shares were trading at 298 pence at 0730 GMT, up 7.2 percent. To Wednesday's close, they had risen more than 35 percent since the bank went public in March.