International Personal Finance makes strong start to year despite Poland difficulties
Consumer credit provider International Personal Finance (IPF) has posted a strong first-quarter performance thanks to good customer repayment rates and high credit quality.
The firm, which is headquartered in Leeds and operates in several European countries and Australia, saw customer lending growth of five per cent and year-on-year receivables growth of 11 per cent.
The lender also confirmed plans to refinance its Eurobond, which is maturing in November 2025, were progressing well.
However, the company excluded its Polish market from its results. There the firm saw a year-on-year fall of 21 per cent in lending and 32 per cent in receivables as it adjusted to what it referred to as an “evolving regulatory landscape”.
Due to these difficulties in its Polish market, overall the firm’s customer lending and net receivables both reduced by three per cent, while customer numbers increased by two per cent.
At the start of the year, Poland introduced strict new lending regulations which prohibited borrowing funds from investors via online platforms.
Gerard Ryan, CEO at International Personal Finance, said: “We’ve made a very good start to the year and are progressing well against our 2024 financial plan. We delivered good customer lending and receivables growth in all our markets with the exception of Poland, where our actions to adapt our home credit business to the changing regulatory backdrop continue.
“Credit quality remains excellent across all parts of the Group, and this provides us with a strong foundation to accelerate growth through the remainder of the year.”
Guidance for the full year remained unchanged.