Cumberland Building Society has announced a sharp rise in year-end profits and a record level of cash inflow.

In the year to March 31 the mutual made a group profit after tax of £19.67m as opposed to just less than £12.62m for the same period last year.

These profits was boosted by the sale of its stake in Visa Europe, which brought a one-off cash boost of £4.85m. Without this, the society made a profit of £14.82m, a more than 17 per cent rise on the result in 2016.

The group also saw an increase of more than £90m in mortgage balances and a cash inflow to current and savings accounts of more than £118m, a record for the society.

Trevor Hebdon, who became chairman in September, succeeding Michael Pratt, was delighted with the results.

He said: “It has been a great honour to succeed Michael as chairman of the Cumberland, and I am delighted to report a set of extremely positive results in my first year in the role.

"Our achievements are the combination of a solid and sustainable business model, the hard work, skill and enthusiasm from our team and an approach which puts our customers first in everything we do."

"In a market generally dominated by huge corporate banks, the Cumberland stands as a meaningful alternative, helping people across our region manage their money and buy their homes by providing great value financial products and exceptional customer service,” he added.

The Cumberland is one of three building societies based in Cumbria - the others are the Penrith and the Furness - and is the 10th biggest such organisation in the UK. It is the only mutual other than Nationwide, the UK's largest, to offer a full current account range.

It has its headquarters in Kingstown, Carlisle and has 34 branches. The majority of these are in Cumbria though it also has a presence in southern Scotland, Northumberland and north Lancashire.

The group invested heavily in its digital products last year, which included the introduction of an all-device booking system. Two independent surveys over the course of the last year saw the Cumberland’s banking customers to be the ‘Happiest in the UK’.