TCS shines with maiden results
SHARES in Russian credit card firm TCS Group yesterday remained stubbornly lower than their November float price, despite the firm posting a 22 per cent rise in profits.
The business, founded by Russian entrepreneur Oleg Tinkov, closed at $14 a share after it said pre-tax profits rose to $61m for the three months ending September, from $50m in June.
TCS also said its net interest income, a measure of bank revenue, rose nearly 60 per cent after a $2.4bn boost to its customer credit card portfolio.
The value of customer accounts also increased by a third.
“We continued to demonstrate strong growth in our credit card loan portfolio and net interest income, while reducing our cost of capital and stabilising the cost of risk,” said Oliver Hughes, chief executive of TCS Bank.
Investors had snapped up shares in TCS – which is the parent company of its operating arm Tinkoff Credit Systems (TCS) Bank – ahead of the maiden results at $17 each last month but they have since fallen on fears over lending rules in Russia, despite TCS reassuring investors over the rules.
Tinkov founded TCS in 2006 and went on to win the financial backing of Goldman Sachs, which remains a significant shareholder.