Specialist credit provider triples profits
Specialist consumer credit provider, International Personal Finance says it is making “good progress” on rebuilding the business as it reports increased pre-tax profit, despite challenges.
The Leeds-based lender noted that it had issued £214.2m of credit in the period ended 31 March. This was down 18.4% year on year but was an improvement on the final quarter of the 2020 period which saw a drop of almost a third in the credit issued (31%).
In its first quarter trading update the business which currently operates in 11 markets noted that customer numbers were also down 18.6% noting the period was impacted by the third wave of the pandemic with infection rates rising rapidly and impacting its customers, people and operations in its European markets. In particular the business was impacted by temporary regulations in Poland which reduced the cap on non-interest costs of new lending which was originally to run until 8 March 2021 but was extended until 30 June 2021, and in Hungary which imposed a temporary debt repayment moratorium until 30 September 2021.
Despite the challenge the firm reported a pre-tax profit for the first quarter of the year of £24m, almost tripling its pre-tac profit of the same period last year.
Looking ahead the updated stated: “Our business plays an essential role in society, providing credit responsibly to those who are underbanked or underserved, and there remains significant long-term demand for affordable credit from this group of consumers in all our markets.”
Adding that the business would “build on the positive momentum generated in the first six months of 2021” and that “although the Covid-19 environment remains dynamic” it has proven the resilience of the business model and expects “to continue to deliver a strong rebound in full-year profitability in 2021”.
