International Personal Finance Ups Dividend As 1H Pretax Soars

22nd Jul 2010 07:21

LONDON (Dow Jones)--U.K. lender International Personal Finance PLC (IPF.LN) Thursday increased its interim dividend 10% after first-half pretax profit surged to GBP36.9 million on growing customer numbers and profitability in all of its markets. IPF said the first half has seen improving economic conditions in most of its markets, while its Mexican and Romanian units moved into profit for the first time. For the six months to June 30, IPF, which provides small-sum doorstep loans in Eastern Europe and Mexico, posted pretax profit of GBP36.9 million, compared with GBP12.4 million a year earlier. Revenue rose to GBP302.7 million from GBP265 million, and it raised its interim dividend to 2.53 pence a share from 2.30 pence a year earlier. IPF said its customer base has grown 7.5% from June 2009 to 2.1 million, as growth in the developing markets of Mexico and Romania more than offset downsizing from the restructuring of its Hungarian business last summer. The company said it has sufficient committed bank facilities to fund its business until October 2011, but after that will need around GBP450 million of funding including headroom. IPF said it plans to put new funding arrangements in place before the end of 2010. -By Rachael Gormley, Dow Jones Newswires; 44-20-7842-9308; [email protected] Order free Annual Report for International Personal Finance Visit http://djnweurope.ar.wilink.com/?ticker=GB00B1YKG049 or call +44 (0)208 391 6028 (END) Dow Jones Newswires July 22, 2010 02:21 ET (06:21 GMT)