Aldermore 2015 profits rise more than expected

Aldermore Group - FY15 pre-tax profit of £95m ($134m), up 88%, YoY, beating expectations due to the challenger UK bank, founded in 2009, issuing more mortgages and loans to small and medium-sized businesses

(Reuters) - Aldermore Group Plc (ALD.L) reported a better-than-expected increase in full-year pretax profit as the up-and-coming British bank issued more mortgages and loans to small and medium-sized businesses.

The bank said it had not yet seen a "significant" shift in customer behaviour because of Britian's increase in property tax, expected to come into effect in April, for those who buy a house in order to rent it and on second homes.

Aldermore, founded in 2009 by a former Barclays executive with backing from AnaCap, said pretax profit rose 88 percent to 95 million pounds for the year ended Dec. 31.

Analysts were expecting the company to earn 91.4 million pounds, according to company-compiled market estimates.

Aldermore, which went public last March, said net lending to customers rose 28 percent to 6.1 billion pounds in the year.

The company said an 8 percent surcharge on profits above 25 million pounds, which came into effect in January, will increase its overall corporate tax rate and impact shareholder returns going forward.

Aldermore's stock was trading up 6.4 percent at 230 pence at 0804 GMT on Thursday on the London Stock Exchange, outperforming the FTSE 350 Banks Index which was in the red.

($1 = 0.7049 pounds)

(Reporting by Noor Zainab Hussain in Bengaluru; Editing by Savio D'Souza)