Investec hopeful despite slump in full-year profits

SOUTH African specialist bank Investec saw 2009 full-year net profit fall by a quarter to £292m, it said yesterday, but added that it expects impairment to level out.

The group, led by chief executive Stephen Koseff, saw impairment losses jump from £114m to £256m in 2009, but managing director Bernard Kantor said he expected bad debts to decline as the South African and UK economies recover.

“The financial system is going to survive and we are beginning to see things stabilise,” he said.

Private banking saw a 46 per cent profit decline to £104.6m, while investment banking fared even worse, with profits down 61 per cent to £28.2m. Kantor conceded that the two units had endured a “tough year” but pointed to the group’s 4.8 per cent increase in operating profit.