International Personal Finance (IPF)

Sector:

Financials

Index:

FTSE Small Cap

133.00p
   
  • Change Today:
    -2.00p
  • 52 Week High: 163.50
  • 52 Week Low: 100.50
  • Currency: UK Pounds
  • Shares Issued: 217.27m
  • Volume: 104,509
  • Market Cap: £288.97m
  • RiskGrade: 268

Profits jump at International Personal Finance despite Polish hit

By Abigail Townsend

Date: Thursday 14 Mar 2024

LONDON (ShareCast) - (Sharecast News) - Shares in International Personal Finance sparked on Thursday, after the London-listed firm posted above-forecast earnings.

IPF, which specialises in affordable credit and insurance products, said pre-tax profits rose 8.4% in the year to 31 December to £83.9m, ahead of internal expectations. Earnings per share jumped 11.5% to 23.2p.

The market had been expecting pre-tax profits closer to £74m.

As at 1145 GMT, shares in IPF were up 12% at 112.5p.

IPF said strong demand for its financial products had resulted in an 8% jump in customer lending, excluding Poland. Closing net receivables rose 12% on the same basis, to £893m.

Lending and receivables in Poland fell by 29% and 25% respectively, as expected, due to changing regulation and the rollout of a new credit card product.

Looking forward, IPF said it expected Poland's new pricing regulation to reduce ongoing pre-tax profits by up to £10m per annum, assuming all of the regulator's expectations were implemented in full.

However, Gerard Ryan, chief executive, reiterated IPF's commitment to the Polish market.

"We are now serving more than 130,000 customers with this exciting new offering, and we continue to adopt and change our Polish business to customer needs and ongoing changes in regulation," he said.

He continued: "Our relentless focus on meeting our customers' needs, combined with strong cost control and good capital management, has driven a very positive financial and operational performance for 2023.

"Our strong performance, together with our robust capital and funding position, provides a great foundation for delivering further good growth and continuing to successful execute against our strategy in 2024."

Shore Capital upgraded to the stock to 'buy' from 'under review' following the results.

Analyst Gary Greenwood said: "We would provisionally expect to reduce our 2024 pre-tax profit estimate into a range of £70m-£75m, from £83m, to reflect the potential impact of the new Polish regulation."

But he continued: "Even if the profit impact of Polish regulatory risk is double management's forecast - which we understand would wipe out the entire profitability in Poland - this would only add around 1 x to the PER multiple.

"We think the shares remain attractively valued, and hence move the stock back to a 'buy'."

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Note 1: Prices and trades are provided by Digital Look Corporate Solutions and are delayed by at least 15 minutes.

Note 2: RiskGrade figures are provided by RiskMetrics.

 

IPF Market Data

Currency UK Pounds
Share Price 133.00p
Change Today -2.00p
% Change -1.48 %
52 Week High 163.50
52 Week Low 100.50
Volume 104,509
Shares Issued 217.27m
Market Cap £288.97m
RiskGrade 268

IPF Star Ratings

Compare performance with the sector and the market.
more star ratings
Key: vs Market vs Sector
Value
95.60% above the market average95.60% above the market average95.60% above the market average95.60% above the market average95.60% above the market average
83.49% above the sector average83.49% above the sector average83.49% above the sector average83.49% above the sector average83.49% above the sector average
Price Trend
68.84% above the market average68.84% above the market average68.84% above the market average68.84% above the market average68.84% above the market average
66.37% above the sector average66.37% above the sector average66.37% above the sector average66.37% above the sector average66.37% above the sector average
Income
98.13% above the market average98.13% above the market average98.13% above the market average98.13% above the market average98.13% above the market average
96.92% above the sector average96.92% above the sector average96.92% above the sector average96.92% above the sector average96.92% above the sector average
Growth
2.87% above the market average2.87% above the market average2.87% above the market average2.87% above the market average2.87% above the market average
18.45% above the sector average18.45% above the sector average18.45% above the sector average18.45% above the sector average18.45% above the sector average

What The Brokers Say

Strong Buy 1
Buy 2
Neutral 0
Sell 0
Strong Sell 0
Total 3
buy
Broker recommendations should not be taken as investment advice, and are provided by the authorised brokers listed on this page.

IPF Dividends

  Latest Previous
  Interim Final
Ex-Div 29-Aug-24 11-Apr-24
Paid 27-Sep-24 10-May-24
Amount 3.40p 7.20p

Trades for 31-Oct-2024

Time Volume / Share Price
16:35 44,928 @ 133.00p
16:35 1,120 @ 133.00p
16:35 287 @ 133.00p
16:35 731 @ 133.00p
16:35 857 @ 133.00p

IPF Key Personnel

CEO Gerard Ryan
Chair Stuart Sinclair
CFO Gary Thompson

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