Leeds credit lender IPF cancels dividend and saves £17.3m

The cancellation of the dividend will result in a cash saving of £17.3m, the Leeds-based lender said. It also deferred capital expenditure and 2020 salary increases, including those of its executive directors.

Regulators and governments in a number of IPF’s markets have implemented, or are considering implementing, temporary consumer lending measures in response to the pandemic.

These include debt repayment moratoriums and new or lower pricing limits.

Collections in its home credit businesses, which had largely been unaffected in the first half of March, are now being adversely affected as tighter restrictions are imposed on freedom of movement.

It has suspended agent visits to customers in Poland, except where requested by customers, Hungary and Romania.

In Poland remote payment options are available and similar processes are being established in its other European Home Credit countries, IPF said.

In Hungary, pending discussions with the Hungarian National Bank on how to manage the implementation of the customer opt-out mechanism, the firm expects to recommence agent visits in the coming weeks.

In Romania, IPF also plans to resume agent service shortly with “enhanced” protocols to protect the health of its agents and customers.

Earlier this year, Gerard Ryan, CEO of IPF, said: “We delivered a good financial performance in 2019 increasing profit before tax to £114m, driven by strong operational execution in European home credit and our established digital businesses.”

Editor’s note: first and foremost - and rarely have I written down these words with more sincerity - I hope this finds you well.

Almost certainly you are here because you value the quality and the integrity of the journalism produced by The Yorkshire Post’s journalists - almost all of which live alongside you in Yorkshire, spending the wages they earn with Yorkshire businesses - who last year took this title to the industry watchdog’s Most Trusted Newspaper in Britain accolade.

And that is why I must make an urgent request of you: as advertising revenue declines, your support becomes evermore crucial to the maintenance of the journalistic standards expected of The Yorkshire Post. If you can, safely, please buy a paper or take up a subscription. We want to continue to make you proud of Yorkshire’s National Newspaper but we are going to need your help.

Postal subscription copies can be ordered by calling 0330 4030066 or by emailing [email protected]. Vouchers, to be exchanged at retail sales outlets - our newsagents need you, too - can be subscribed to by contacting subscriptions on 0330 1235950 or by visiting www.localsubsplus.co.uk where you should select The Yorkshire Post from the list of titles available.

If you want to help right now, download our tablet app from the App / Play Stores. Every contribution you make helps to provide this county with the best regional journalism in the country.

Sincerely. Thank you.

James Mitchinson

Editor