IPF profits up as customer numbers grow

Unsecured credit lender International Personal Finance (IPF) reported a rise in underlying first half profit as customer numbers grew.

The company on Wednesday said underlying first-half profit before tax grew by 45% to £33.8m, after excluding Covid-19 impairment provision releases in the same period last year of £20m.

Chief executive Gerard Ryan said: “We delivered strong growth and a very good financial performance across the Group in the first half of the year.”

“Whilst the external landscape has become more challenging due to global inflationary pressure and the uncertainties caused by the war in Ukraine, we saw a steady improvement in demand over the course of the second quarter which has continued into the third quarter.”

Customer lending increased by 14%, driven by improving demand with customer numbers up 2% to 1.72m.

“Whilst we have seen some market rationalisation amongst our competitors, the main incumbents remain broadly the same with marketing spend moving back to pre-Covid-19 levels,” the company said.

“We have seen very few new entrants trying to serve our segments.”

Reporting by Frank Prenesti at Sharecast.com