IPF shares leap as it reports cash generation

International Personal Finance said it generated cash in April after bosses cancelled bonuses and share awards amid the coronavirus crisis.

The doorstep lender said it generated £27m of cash in April before the £21m interest payment on its €406m eurobond.

The company's positive trading statement sent its shares up by 40%.

IPF said it generated the cash after taking actions to preserve cash and manage costs. The company's leadership team have cancelled the 2020 annual bonus scheme and have waived performance share plan awards that had been issued to them.

Along with spending reductions and deferred salary increases these measures saved the company about £52m, IPF said. IPF had already scrapped its final dividend for 2019 after collections were hit by government debt moratoriums.

IPF shares rose 40% to 64.90p at 10:04 BST.

In the first quarter of 2020 IPF lent 15% less than a year earlier. Collections were 95% of budget in the first quarter but dipped to 87% of budget in March.

IPF said demand for credit was unlikely to reduce beyond this point but that it expected to limit credit. Credit issued in April will be about 30% of the original budget as IPF focuses on long-term customers, it said. IPF makes short-term loans to hard-up borrowers in eastern Europe and Mexico.

The company said Mexico was behind Europe in the spread of Covid-19 and that it was applying lessons from Europe to focus on collections, tighten credit measures and find alternative ways for borrowers to make payments. IPF said it had £217m of cash and debt facilities and that stress tests showed it could stay within the terms of its funding facilities.

Gerard Ryan, IPF's chief executive, said: "We made a solid start to the year and trading in the first ten weeks of 2020 was in-line with our expectations. Like many other organisations, Covid-19 has since impacted our business."