22nd Oct 2014 06:54
LONDON (Alliance News) - International Personal Finance PLC Wednesday said pretax profit rose 5% in the third quarter, driven by higher customer numbers, although profit was pulled back by currency movements, investments it made in new markets and weakness in the Czech and Slovak markets.
The home credit business, with operations across Eastern Europe, reported a pretax profit of GBP34.0 million in the three months to end-September, up from GBP32.5 million a year earlier, as revenue rose to GBP245.5 million, from GBP264.4 million, helped by a 4.8% increase in customer numbers to 2.6 million.
The company said profit was up 21% on the year, or by GBP6.7 million, excluding GBP1.5 million of additional investment in new markets and a GBP3.76 million hit from weaker forex rates. For the first nine months of the year, profit is up by GBP19.5 million, excluding GBP5.6 million of additional investment and a GBP7.6 million currency movement hit.
It said it was managing costs well, resulting in a 1.5 percentage point improvement in its cost-income ratio to 38.0%, while impairment as a percentage of revenue was kept within its target range, at 28.1%.
International Personal Finance said it is set to launch its digital loan brand hapi in Poland in the fourth quarter. It has been expanding into Lithuania, Bulgaria and Mexico, and said it is also on track to offer its first loans in Spain in the first quarter of 2015.
"Overall, our business is performing well and we have delivered good profit before tax growth despite weakness in Czech-Slovakia, where trading conditions proved challenging. I am confident that we are on track to deliver a good full year performance in 2014 as a result of the strong performances of our other businesses," Chief Executive Gerard Ryan said in a statement.
By Steve McGrath; [email protected]; @stevemcgrath1
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