22nd Sep 2015 08:02
LONDON (Alliance News) - Niche finance provider S&U PLC on Tuesday said it will pay a special dividend to its shareholders from the sale of its home credit business, as its remaining Advantage Finance business delivered record profits in the first half.
S&U said it will pay a special dividend of 125.00 pence per share to its shareholders following the GBP50.5 million sale of its Loansathome4u home credit unit to Non-Standard Finance PLC. That payout is in addition to the 20.00 pence per share interim dividend it will pay, itself up 20% from the 17.00 pence it paid a year earlier.
The group said its pretax profit from its continuing operations in the half to the end of July rose 32% to GBP8.8 million from GBP6.7 million, as its Advantage Finance motor finance business delivered record profits and as its revenue in the half rose to GBP20.4 million from GBP17.0 million.
Customer numbers in the Advantage Finance business rose 22% year-on-year in the half, while deal volumes have recovered from a dip seen at the start of the year and its targets have been revised above those set out at the start of the financial year.
"The past six months has seen momentous change in the development of S&U. The sale of our traditional home credit business was both net asset enhancing and strategically desirable. It gives us a very strong base on which to continue to build Advantage Finance, our motor finance division and to explore other similar high growth areas of speciality finance," said Chairman Anthony Coombs.
Shares in S&U were up 5.2% on the news to 2,525.00 pence, one of the best performers in the FTSE All-Share.
By Sam Unsted; [email protected]; @SamUAtAlliance
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