Trading in line, says IPF

INTERNATIONAL Personal Finance (IPF) said today that trading has been in line with expectations over the past two months.

In May, the credit lender – formerly the international division of Bradford-based Provident Financial – said that all of its markets were performing as expected apart from Hungary.

With its Hungarian operation set to perform £20m to £30m below expectations IPF warned that the outcome for 2009 would be “substantially less than our expectations”.

In April, it announced it was to shut down its banking operation in Russia as its roll out plans and “path to profit” would be slower than originally planned.

However, the Leeds-based group added that economic and trading conditions were varying considerably as a result of the credit crunch.

It said that its Romanian market was progressing well along with other countries such as Mexico, where it also operates.

IPF will publish its half-year results on July 23.