International Personal Finance (IPF) continued to battle a regulatory crackdown on sub-prime lending in Europe last year, but investment in Mexico and digital operations began to pay off. Mexican customer numbers were 11 per cent higher at 917,000, with branch-based lending offsetting the cost of expanding its micro-business operations and boosting pre-tax profits by more than a fifth. Meanwhile, IPF Digital – which posted a 41 per cent rise in outstanding loans – is set to turn a maiden pre-tax profit in 2019.
At a group level, credit issuance rose 6 per cent, while impairments were lower at 26.2 per cent of revenue, from 27.9 per cent the prior year. As expected, credit issued in European markets contracted 5 per cent, with competition from payday lenders, digital and home credit collectors remaining intense. Romania also introduced new debt-to-income regulations, while the Polish government has also published a draft bill proposing a reduction in the cap on non-interest costs to 75 per cent of the consumer loan value from 100 per cent.
Analysts at Numis expect adjusted pre-tax profits of £112m and EPS of 29.6p this year, from £109m and 33.8p in 2018.
| INTERNATIONAL PERSONAL FINANCE (IPF) | ||||
| ORD PRICE: | 202p | MARKET VALUE: | £450m | |
| TOUCH: | 202-202.8p | 12-MONTH HIGH: | 259p | LOW: 166p |
| DIVIDEND YIELD: | 6.1% | PE RATIO: | 6 | |
| NET ASSET VALUE: | 194p | NET DEBT: | 151% | |
| Year to 31 Dec | Turnover (£m) | Pre-tax profit (£m) | Earnings per share (p) | Dividend per share (p) |
| 2014 | 783 | 100 | 30.2 | 12.0 |
| 2015 | 735 | 100 | 27.3 | 12.4 |
| 2016 | 757 | 96 | 32.2 | 12.4 |
| 2017 | 826 | 106 | 20.2 | 12.4 |
| 2018 | 866 | 109 | 33.8 | 12.4 |
| % change | +5 | +3 | +67 | - |
| Ex-div: | 11 Apr | |||
| Payment: | 10 May |
