Sydney, Oct 28, 2005 (ABN Newswire) - Adelaide Bank (ASX: ADB) is on track to achieve its stated targets for 2005-06 after a good first quarter, fueled by a strong performance by its margin lending, portfolio funding and business lending activities and underpinnned by a steady performance in residential lending.

This was the message given to more than 400 shareholders today at Adelaide Bank Limited's Annual General Meeting at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Adelaide. Adelaide Bank Group Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer, Mr Barry Fitzpatrick provided details of the good first quarter for 2005-06 to shareholders.

In his address, Mr Fitzpatrick said the Bank had increased residential loans under management from $14.48 billion to $14.97 billion - an increase of four per cent. The Bank's margin lending business reported strong growth with its loan book increasing from $2.64 billion at the end of 2004-05 to $2.80 billion - an increase of nearly eight per cent.

The recently introduced Portfolio Funding operation increased by 48 per cent, while Business Banking increased lending by 6.3 per cent. On the other side of the business, retail funding grew by 9.7 per cent to $10.2 billion - up from $9.3 billion.

Commenting, Mr Fitzpatrick said: "Importantly, we have seen our margin on non-securitised assets remain relatively steady over the first quarter, holding at the 2.2 per cent mark." "However, we stand by our prediction of one year ago and in our Annual report that we will experience a contraction in margin on total assets under management of between 10 and 15 basis points over the year. "Our beginning to 2005-06 shows we are on track to achieve our major financial aim of achieving growth in cash earnings per share of more than 10 per cent. "At the same time, we remain steadfast in managing operating costs to achieve a cost to income ratio of 46 per cent by June 30, 2008, while maintaining asset quality in the top quartile of Australian retail banks."

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