29th Jul 2015 08:51
LONDON (Alliance News) - International Personal Finance PLC Wednesday said its pretax profit increased in the first half, largely because last year's equivalent figures included a GBP22.6 million loss on buying back EUR190.2 million of Eurobonds it had issued at a premium to face value.
The lender said it made a GBP38.6 million pretax profit in the six months to the end of June, compared with GBP24.5 million in the corresponding period the prior year. It increased its interim dividend per share to 4.6 pence from 4.2p.
The numbers include a GBP4.7 million charge, the result of integrating its MCB Finance acquisition and the costs of using its digital business to enter Spain, instead of through its home credit division, after delays to its original plan.
The company said it is now aiming to enter the Spanish market towards the end of the year. Excluding one-off costs, such as the GBP4.7 million charge and the Eurobond buyback, pretax profit fell to GBP43.3 million from GBP47.1 million.
"Whilst trading conditions in Europe remain challenging and potential regulatory changes in Poland have introduced some uncertainty for that market, our business in Mexico continues to deliver very strong growth and remains on track to meet our customer and profitability targets," Chief Executive Gerard Ryan said in a statement.
Shares in International Personal Finance were hit earlier in July as a result of potential changes to consumer finance law in Poland, a big profit generating area for the company, meaning it is working on new product structures in the event it must comply with any revisions made.
"With strong underlying profit growth in the period of 16% and a very robust balance sheet, we are announcing another share buyback programme to move us closer to our target equity-to-receivables ratio of 40%, and we are focussed on delivering further growth in the second half of the year," Ryan added.
Shares in the company were down 1.0% at 385.30 pence on Wednesday morning in London.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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