S&U's sale of home-credit division leaves it with £50m for reinvestment

5th Aug 2015 10:46

(ShareCast News) - S&U said the sale of its home-credit division, Loansathome4u, heralds a new era for the company, leaving it with around £50m for investment and returns to shareholders.The finance firm said that proceeds from the £82m transaction - the completion of which was announced on Tuesday - will be reinvested into the accelerated growth of Advantage Finance, which is the group's motor finance arm.Net proceeds will also be used to finance the development of a new Advantage SME vehicle lending product. Shareholders will also see some returns, with details of this to be announced at a later stage.S&U said that although the disposal will be temporarily earnings dilutive, it will significantly enhance the group's net asset position and enable it to focus on higher growth areas of specialist finance.In its trading update for the six months to 31 July, the company said Advantage Finance continues to trade at record levels, with gross receivables reaching £200m for the first time.Transaction volumes cumulatively this year are slightly down on the record levels in the first half of 2014, but have picked up in recent weeks and the company said they should exceed record annual budgets.At 1450 BST, the company's shares were down 3.5% at 2,374.75p.