23rd Jul 2014 08:56
LONDON (Alliance News) - Lender Provident Financial PLC Wednesday said its interim pretax profit increased by a quarter, boosted by its credit card provider, Vanquis Bank, which experienced a 36% increase in UK profit.
Provident Financial increased its interim dividend to 34.1 pence, from 31.0p. Shares were Wednesday quoted up 1.0% at 2,094.00p.
In a statement, the credit card and consumer credit company said it made a GBP90.1 million pretax profit in the first six months of 2014, up 25% from GBP72.0 million in the corresponding period last year.
Revenue dipped to GBP533.8 million from GBP545.0 million. Although revenue at Vanquis Bank increased by 23% in the period as its customer numbers swelled by 174,000 and drove a rise in receivables, revenue at Provident Financial's consumer credit division fell by 14% due to a 416,000 drop in customer numbers hitting receivables, as the unit's repositioning continues.
Operating costs fell to GBP272.2 million from GBP311.1 million, though administrative costs rose to GBP133.3 million from GBP125.5 million.
"Vanquis Bank has delivered further strong growth through developing its presence in the under-served, non-standard credit card market with first-half UK profits up 36.1%. The positive momentum from evolving the marketing and distribution of the credit proposition in the Polish pilot operation is also encouraging," Chief Executive Peter Crook said in a statement.
"CCD continues to make excellent progress in repositioning the home credit business as a leaner, better quality business focused on returns rather than growth, whilst the build-out of the capability to support the rapid development of the Satsuma online instalment lending business will be completed by the end of the year," Crook added.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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