Overseas-focused doorstep lender International Personal Finance (IPF) saw it profits fall last year after £14.9m of adverse currency movements, as well as £10.8m hit relating to the cost of early settlement rebates (ESRs) in Poland and the Czech Republic. Further ESRs will occur in Poland this year, but no further adjustments are anticipated after that.
Customer numbers grew 4 per cent to 2.41m and credit issued rose 13.2 per cent to £882.1m, while impairments grew slightly from 25.8 per cent of receivables to 27 per cent. However, an ongoing cost efficiency programme meant that the cost to income ratio improved from 41 per cent to 39.8 per cent. Poland and Hungary remained the key drivers, although Mexico's continued recovery boosted pre-tax profits there from £1.5m to £4.9m. Although conditions in Romania remained difficult - trading there was dogged by a squeeze on disposable incomes and a subsequent rise in impairments that cut profits from £4.1m to £2.2m. Plans remain on track, however, to expand into Bulgaria and Lithuania this year. While previous start-up operations have taken four years to achieve profitability, management believes it can turn these two around in two and a half years.
Numis Securities expects pre-tax profit of £111.9m for 2013 and EPS of 33.5p (from 31p in 2012).
| INTERNATIONAL PERSONAL FINANCE (IPF) | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ORD PRICE: | 430p | MARKET VALUE: | £1.07bn | |
| TOUCH: | 428-430p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 432p | LOW: 207p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 1.8% | PE RATIO: | 15 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 151p | |||
| Year to 31 Dec | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 76.3 | 21.5 | 5.70 |
| 2009 | 61.7 | 17.8 | 5.70 |
| 2010 | 88.2 | 23.3 | 6.27 |
| 2011 | 101 | 30.2 | 7.10 |
| 2012 | 90.3 | 29.4 | 7.70 |
| % change | -11 | -2 | +8 |
Ex-div: 20 Mar Payment: 3 May | |||
