Provident Financial profit up as bad debt falls

sub-prime lender Provident Financial reported a 15 per cent increase in its half-year profit, helped by lower bad debts and strong growth at its Vanquis credit card business.

By The Newsroom

Published 27th Jul 2011, 09:33 BST

The Bradford-based firm, which lends to people who cannot get credit from mainstream banks, had a pre-tax profit of £62.3m for the six months to June 30, up from £54m in the same period last year, the company said today.

The improvement came as overall loan impairment at its flagship home credit operation, which lends small cash sums through agents who call at borrowers’ homes, fell to 31.2 per cent of revenue from 32.9 per cent in December.

Provident also benefited from a near-doubling of earnings at Vanquis.

Provident shares closed at 1,029 pence yesterday, valuing the company at about £1.4bn. The stock is up 17.7 per cent in the year to date.

Provident Financial Bradford