Provident Financial outperforms expectations as rebuilding continues

Provident Financial has reported pre-tax profits that are marginally ahead of market expectations as it continues to reposition and rebuild the business.

The Bradford-based financial services business generated adjusted pre-tax profits of £64.8m, compared with a £54.6m loss in 2020.

Provident Financial has endured a difficult few years after the sub-prime lender crashed out of the FTSE 100 in 2017 on the back of FCA investigations and substantial losses and survived a hostile takeover bid by Non-Standard Finance two years later.

Malcolm Le May, chief executive of Provident Financial, said: “We have exited high-cost short-term credit and we are now focused on providing mid-cost credit products to over 1.6m customers.

“2021 was a strategically important year for PFG: we commenced the rebuilding of our cards franchise following the pandemic, we established a personal loans business supported by a brand new IT platform and we closed the Consumer Credit Division in response to changing industry dynamics.”

Provident Financial has recommended a 12p dividend, which represents a pay-out of 30% of adjusted continuing earnings. It plans to increase this to 40% from next year.