Ramsdens trades ahead of expectations in H1

Financial services provider Ramsdens said on Tuesday that first-half trading was ahead of expectations, driven by "strong performances" across its diversified income streams.

During the half, Ramsdens said it had continued to make "very good progress" across each of its four key business segments, as well as against its broader long-term strategic objectives.

Ramsdens stated jewellery retail gross profit increased by over 20% year-on-year, reflecting further growth both in-store and online, while foreign currency exchange was up by approximately 40%, its pawnbroking loan book rose 13%, and the purchase of precious metal volumes increased over 20% on the prior year.

As a result, the AIM-listed group delivered "a strong performance" for the period and now expects full-year pre-tax profits to be no less than £9.5m - up from £8.3m a year earlier.

Chief executive Peter Kenyon said: "We are pleased to report an excellent performance in the first half of the year, resulting in an outcome ahead of the Board's expectations. This was achieved by strong trading across all of our key income streams.

"We are successfully executing against our long-held strategic priorities. We are focused on driving organic growth by delivering ongoing continuous improvements to our operations, expanding the store estate - for which we have a strong pipeline of potential new stores - and investing in our online offering. In addition, we are continuing to seek and appraise attractive consolidation opportunities in what remains a highly fragmented market."

As of 1320 BST, Ramsdens shares were up 5.29% at 229.0p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com