Tasmanian-based banking and wealth management group, MyState Limited, today announced a statutory after-tax profit of $32.5 million for the year to 30 June 2015, up 9.8% on the prior year.

Excluding an after-tax contribution of $3.9 million from the sale of the company’s Cuscal shares and one-off restructuring costs of $1.1 million, their underlying net profit after tax was $29.7 million, up 0.3% on the prior year. Underlying earnings per share were 34.1 cents, up 0.2 cents.

The group also recorded impressive loan growth of 16.3% for the year, taking the total loan book to $3.6 billion.

MyState Limited’s Managing Director and CEO, Melos Sulicich this was a solid result in a year when significant changes were made to benefit customers and shareholders in future years.

“In pursuit of our vision to become Australia’s number one local bank, we strengthened our executive team, began to simplify our business, embedded a staff performance culture and enhanced sales management,” Mr Sulicich said.

“Importantly, our mortgage broker strategy has succeeded in generating growth in our loan book, which increased by 16.3%, compared with a 0.4% increase in the previous year.

“We ended FY15 with considerable momentum; in June 2015 we achieved monthly settlements of $110 million, a record for the group. Approximately 87% of our home loans are to owner-occupiers, and investor lending remains a small proportion of overall loans.

“The strong growth in our loan book is a testament to the success of new sales initiatives. These included establishment of a dedicated sales and distribution team, hiring experienced business development managers and improving systems to speed up loan approvals.”

Looking to the future, Mr Sulicich said the company continues to explore industry consolidation opportunities that will add value to the MyState group and its shareholders.

“The outlook for the Tasmanian economy is encouraging with business confidence and key economic indicators showing strong signs of improvement,” Mr Sulicich said.