Provident Financial boosted by lower bad debt charges
LOWER bad debt charges boosted full-year profits at sub-prime lender Provident Financial, and the company said yesterday that it was confident of further growth in 2012, lifting its shares to their highest level since February 2001.
Provident Financial, which lends to people who cannot get credit from mainstream banks and whose roots date back to 1880, reported pre-tax profits for 2011 of £162m, up 12.2 per cent from the previous year.
Its earnings were lifted by a reduction in impairment charges for loans that have had to be written off, and the profits came in ahead of the £160m average consensus forecast.
The company proposed a final dividend of 42.3p, making a total dividend for the year of 69p, up 8.7 per cent from last year.
It also renewed £382.5m worth of funding facilities.
“We’ve enjoyed very strong growth even though we’ve been pretty cautious about whom we issue credit to,” chief executive Peter Crook said.
“The group is in a position to make further good progress in 2012,” he added.