Provident share price rises as group reveals robust full-year performance

Shares in Provident Financial (LON:PFG) have been in demand today after the subprime lender said it had achieved a strong performance last year and it had also made a “good start” to 2016.

In its first set of earnings since joining the FTSE 100 in December, Provident posted a 21.8 percent rise in pre-tax profits to £273.6 million for 2015, helped by its fast-growing credit card Vanquis and new ventures including the car finance provider Moneybarn.
Profit at Vanquis Bank rose to £185.5 million from £151 million, with the customer acquisition programme delivering record new customer bookings of 433,000. Adjusted pre-tax profit in the consumer credit division was up 1.4 percent to £105.4 million while profit at Moneybarn, which was acquired in August 2014, was 42 percent higher at £21.3 million. Provident further announced that it had hiked its total dividend per share to 120.1p from 98p the previous year.

CEO Peter Crook stated: “The group has made a good start to 2016. Vanquis Bank and Moneybarn have continued to trade strongly and the home credit business has enjoyed a very satisfactory collections performance.”
Commenting on Provident’s first update as a blue-chip company, Cenkos analyst Rae Maile was quoted as saying: “It was, by any measure, a good year for Provident and for its shareholders. We believe that there is more yet to come as the company continues to manage its business prudently and as it continues to seek new avenues for growth.”
As of 14:22 GMT, Provident’s share price was 2.75 percent up at 3,285.00p. The company was outperforming the FTSE 100 benchmark index, which had meanwhile lost 0.53 percent to 6,005.15 points.
As of 14:50 GMT, Tuesday, 23 February, Provident Financial plc share price is 3,284.50p.