Arrow chief hails year of progress
THE boss of Arrow Global, the company that buys debt portfolios from banks and credit card companies in the UK and Europe, has reported another strong year of growth.
Tom Drury said the Manchester-based group had had a “transformational” 2014 as it delivered strong organic growth and invested £300m, including the acquisition of rival Capquest in a £153m deal.
Revenue in 2014 rose 16.9% to £110.7m driven by core collections which rose 14%. Adjusted EBITDA was up 11.1% to £101m, while profits before tax rose 14.9% to £24.1m.
Having paid its first dividend in October 2014 after its IPO the year before Arrow, based on Booth Street in the city centre, said it would pay a final dividend of 3.4p per share, taking the total for the year to 5.1p.
Chief executive Tom Drury said: “Arrow Global had another transformational year in 2014, investing over £300m whilst maintaining expected levels of returns. We acquired Capquest, a top five firm within the market. We also expanded our European footprint by entering two new geographies in France and Holland and significantly increased the value of our assets in Portugal.”
Looking ahead optimistically, he said: “Entering 2015, we have a strong investment pipeline and expect portfolio purchases for the year to be in line with expectations, underpinned by a higher level of committed purchases of £36m for 2015, with a further £25m already in place for 2016. These committed purchases are important as they allow us to lock in future portfolio acquisitions at our targeted return expectations.
“The integration of Capquest is progressing well and we remain on track to deliver £6.5m of synergy benefits in 2016. We will continue to evolve our business model in order to meet new regulatory standards and to further embed customers at the heart of our business. We believe that increased regulation of the industry will benefit the leading market players and as such feel we are well placed to deliver continued strong growth.”
Arrow Global uses data and analytics to trace borrowers who are not repaying their debts. It then outsources collection to third parties. Typically it achieves much better returns than the banks and credit card providers would have.
