27th Oct 2005 07:06
Provident Financial PLC27 October 2005 Competition Commission Home Credit Inquiry - Emerging Thinking Provident Financial notes the publication of the Competition Commission's Emerging Thinking on the home credit inquiry setting out its emerging thoughtson the broad range of issues it has been looking at over the past few months. It is too early to draw any conclusions from the Emerging Thinking report whichis one of the early stages of the Competition Commission's process. Thenext steps will be the publication of Provisional Findings which is currentlyscheduled for January 2006 and a final report in the early summer of 2006. Provident Financial is pleased to note that the Competition Commission'sown research confirmed high levels of satisfaction among customers and thatagent relationships with customers were good and businesslike. The Commission recognised that relatively high prices for home credit weredriven by factors such as the labour-intensive network of branches and agents.This helps contain bad debt risk and is one of the features most valued bycustomers. Provident Financial will continue to contribute to the Commission'swork, stressing the increasingly competitive nature of the market for the supplyof small sum credit in which we operate, low barriers to entry and high levelsof customer satisfaction. Enquiries: Media: Brunswick Tel: 0207 404 5959 Rachel Brown Provident Financial plc Tel: 01274 377903 Investor Relations: Helen Waggott Provident Financial plc Tel: 01274 379109 This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
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