Provident Financial in position to deliver strong growth for year

The Bradford-based group said credit quality in all three of its businesses is “very sound” and the group’s funding position is strong.

Provident said its credit card operation Vanquis Bank has generated further strong growth and margins through the third quarter of the year.

Investment in its customer acquisition programme generated year-on-year customer growth of 17 per cent and average receivables growth of 32 per cent.

The company said delinquency levels remained favourable through the third quarter.

The group has started a pilot credit card operation in Poland and by the end of last month, it had 50,000 customers and a receivables book of £13.4m.

Provident’s chief executive Peter crook said “excellent” momentum has been maintained through the third quarter in its consumer credit division as the operation becomes leaner.

He added that the division is on track to deliver full-year trading results in line with internal plans as it enters the important fourth quarter trading period, which covers Christmas.

However it said that demand from existing home credit customers remains relatively subdued as customer confidence has not yet shown any sign of improvement despite the improvement in the wider UK economy.