Provident Financial reports positive start to 2018

Provident Financial said it made a positive start to 2018 as the subprime lender seeks to emerge from a disastrous period that threatened its survival.

Reporting on business so far in 2018, Britain’s biggest doorstep lender said it was trading in line with its own expectations for the year.

Vanquis Bank, Provident’s largest business, had a good first quarter and profits beat internal targets, the FTSE 250 company said.

Provident’s home credit division has started to recover from a plunge in collections caused by a botched switch to mobile technology for its collection agents. The company said collections, customer satisfaction and relations with the regulator were improving in line with plans.

Malcolm Le May, chief executive, said: "I am very pleased with the operational and financial performance of the group during the first quarter of the year and we are on-track to deliver results for 2018 in line with internal plans.

“We are making good progress in strengthening the group's governance framework, improving the relationship with our regulators and implementing the changes necessary to our culture to place the customer firmly at the heart of our strategy.”

Provident grew rapidly in the years after the financial crisis, stepping in to offer expensive credit to people turned away by banks that cut back on lending. The company joined the FTSE 100 in 2015 but fell out of the index less than two years later after a series of profit warnings and regulatory inquiries. In April Provident raised £331m from shareholders to shore up its financial position.

The company's shares, which are worth less than a third of their value in May 2017, rose 5.8% to 678.6p at 08:58 BST.