The UK's second-largest building society the Yorkshire has reported a 5per cent fall in pre-tax profits to £199m, but said core profit was up 18per cent to a record £179m in its 150th year.

Net mortgage lending rose by a third to £2.6bn, giving a market share of over 11.4per cent, down from the previous year's 17.7per cent but three times its natural share.

The mutual's capital ratio improved from 14.3 to 16.1 per cent. Its overall interest rate to savers at 1.6per cent was above the 1.34per cent market average.