Shares in the doorstep lender to eastern Europe, International Personal Finance, jumped 7 per cent as management announced a chunky dividend increase and a £25m share buy-back scheme.
The reported results were hit by £4.8m of restructuring charges as 57 jobs were cut from the head office in Leeds, with some roles being relocated to Poland. But underlying pre-tax profits of £31.4m were slightly better than expected, and customer numbers climbed 7.3 per cent to 2.46m. Despite the eurozone worries, credit quality also improved, with impairments down 0.6 percentage points to 26.2 per cent of revenue.
Poland remains the biggest market, generating underlying profit of £24.5m. Here, rising customer numbers and credit issuance were offset by weakening currency, leaving the results flat. There are some clouds on the horizon, though, as early settlement rebates (ESR), required under EU law, come into effect and competitor and former parent Provident Financial opens a rival operation in the country.
Ryan Gerard, IPF's new chief executive, said that Mexico provided a "stand out" performance as it turned a £2.1m loss into £500,000 profit for the half year. Broker Numis upgraded its full-year EPS forecasts by 7 per cent to 27.7p (from 30.2p in 2011).
INTERNATIONAL PERSONAL FINANCE (IPF) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 253p | MARKET VALUE: | £651m | |
| TOUCH: | 252-253p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 338p | LOW: 145p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 2.9% | PE RATIO: | 9 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 130p | NET DEBT: | 68% | |
| Half-year to 30 Jun | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | 327 | 31.0 | 8.79 | 3.00 |
| 2012 | 316 | 25.8 | 7.33 | 3.23 |
| % change | -3 | -17 | -17 | +8 |
Ex-div: 5 Sep Payment: 5 Oct | ||||
