Shares of Edinburgh and Newcastle-based Virgin Money rose about 6% after it said in a first-quarter trading update that it reaffirmed its 2018 guidance on performance and made no change to its full year outlook.

Gross mortgage lending was £1.4 billion in the first quarter ended March 31, with net lending at £200 million, as guided.

Mortgage balances were up 10.4% to £33.9 billion from March 31 last year while deposits grew 7.4% to £31.1 billion.

Virgin Money  CEO Jayne-Anne Gadhia said: “Our customer-focused strategy of growth, quality and returns continues to drive strong business performance.

“We have also made good progress in delivering on the strategic initiatives we announced last year.

“We launched our SME deposit account in January and look forward to additional product launches later in the year.

“We have seen a stronger than expected customer response to the launch of our first Virgin Atlantic frequent flyer cards, demonstrating the strength of customer affinity with the Virgin brand.

“And we continue to make good progress in the development of our digital bank.

“In March, we announced a new partnership with Aberdeen Standard Investments which we believe will drive significant growth in assets under management.

 “In addition to the strategic initiatives, we are focused on growing assets at the right price and quality in a competitive mortgage market and are pleased to report 10.4% year-on-year growth in our mortgage book.

“We remain on track to deliver on the targets we set at the end of last year.”