Paragon Bank has seen its shares jump as much as 10% as the firm announced its full-year results, alongside a new share buyback scheme.

The firm saw its underlying profit before fair value items increased by 25.4% year-on-year to £277.6m, with its total new lending hitting just over £3bn.

Mortgage lending advance totalled £1.88bn, with commercial lending reaching £1.13bn. However, these areas saw drops from £1.91bn and £1.3bn respectively in 2022.

The banking group also stated that customer retention hit over 80% in the 2023 financial year, with net advances support net loan book growth of 4.7% to £14.9bn.

Chief executive officer at Paragon, Nigel Terrington, said: "The group's performance for 2023 again demonstrates the strength of our business model, with underlying profits up 25.4%, loan book growth of 4.7% and retail deposits increasing 24.3% to £13.3bn, outperforming the market, providing strong liquidity and supporting growth.

"The group's diversification strategy and focus on specialist markets across buy-to-let and our commercial divisions provides resilience. Our digitalisation programme continues at pace, providing better user experience for our customers and intermediaries, along with delivering operational efficiencies."

Paragon also launched a new £50m share buyback programme for the 2024 financial year, after completing a £100m scheme in the 2023 financial year.

Terrington added: "We have today announced a further £50m share buy-back for the 2024 financial year. Reflecting the sustained performance of the Group, strength of our capital ratios and liquidity level, since 2015, the group has returned over £948.5m to shareholders via share buybacks and dividends.

"Whilst the external environment remains dynamic with high interest rates and inflation, the group remains well placed to continue supporting its customers in its chosen specialist markets. The strength of the business model and through-the-cycle experience of the management team provides strong foundations to capitalise on opportunities and continue to deliver strong returns for shareholders."

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