A weak housing market has been blamed for a drop in profits at Bath Building Society.
The company, which is the only independent building society based in the South West, has revealed pre-tax profits for 2012 fell by 4.5 per cent to £2.2 million.
However, the society's assets rose by 6.8 per cent to £270 million, from £252.8 million on the previous year. Reserves were also up 9.6 per cent from £17 million to £18.7 million year on year.
Bath Building Society attributed the drop in profits to continuing difficult market conditions including flat house prices and low interest rates, but despite these problems the company has been able to grow its mortgage book by 5.2 per cent to £193.4 million.
Chief executive, Dick Jenkins, said: "This growth has largely been achieved through focusing on specialist segments of the market, such as Self-builders. In 2013 we will be turning our attention to the First Time Buyer (FTB) market and have started to generate real interest through our innovative approach to lending to this group."
He added: "We are more determined than ever to demonstrate that we do things very differently to the major banks. Decent values and respect for our members have been at the core of our business for generations and will remain so going forward. A very good run of results in recent years which has continued into 2012, suggests that this different approach is being appreciated by our members."
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