H&T Group plc – preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2018
H&T Group (“H&T” or the “Group”) today announces its preliminary results for the year ended 31 December 2018.
John Nichols, Chief Executive of H&T Group, said:
“Against a challenging background we have produced a strong year’s trading performance.
“Development of our digital strategy, which is focused on complementing our store estate, has been an important feature along with investments in improving our customer experience and partnerships.
“As a result, we saw significant growth in our secured pawnbroking lending, largely driven by increased customer numbers. We also saw good growth in our unsecured lending with many more customers qualifying for our lower cost loans, and where our focus primarily is now aimed at further leveraging our store estate.
“In retail we saw growth as we expanded our new jewellery range and the development of click-and-collect online sales. Click-and-collect also supported growth in our foreign exchange business.
“The Group’s performance over the past three years demonstrates the continuing success of our strategy to access more customers and markets. Demand for our products remains strong and with further improvements to our delivery capability underway, we look forward to the future with confidence.”
| Financial highlights (£m unless stated) | 2018 | 2017 (Restated* for IFRS9) | Change % | ||
| Gross profit | 88.2 | 78.1 | 12.9% | ||
| EBITDA (note 7) | 16.8 | 15.1 | 11.3% | ||
| Profit before tax | 13.5 | 11.9 | 13.4% | ||
| Diluted earnings per share | 29.2p | 25.9p | 12.7% | ||
| Dividend per share | 11.0p | 10.5p | 4.8% |
| Key performance indicators | 2018 | 2017 (Restated* for IFRS9) | Change % | ||
| Pledge book | £52.0m | £47.5m | 9.5% | ||
| Redemption of annual lending ** | 83.5% | 83.6% | (0.1%) | ||
| Retail gross profits | £13.2m | £12.9m | 2.3% | ||
| Net personal loan book | £20.5m | £14.9m | 37.6% | ||
| Personal loan revenue less impairment | £7.0m | £3.9m | 79.5% | ||
| Number of stores | 182 | 181 | 0.6% |
*Certain comparative information in the financial statements has been restated as a result of the initial application of IFRS 9 as discussed in note 9.
** This is the actual percentage of lending in each year which was redeemed or renewed, the 2018 figure is an estimate based on recent trend and early performance.
Operational highlights:
- Pledge book increased 9.5% to £52.0m (2017: £47.5m)
- Number of Appointed Introducers and lending on high-value watches for pawnbroking both increased
- Personal loans grew with the net loan book increasing 37.6% from £14.9m to £20.5m
- The retail jewellery business continued momentum from 2017 with gross profits increasing by 2.3% from £12.9m to £13.2m
- Traffic to the est1897.co.uk retail website has increased with higher volumes both of basket sales and click-and-collect store fulfilled sales
- Strong growth from foreign currency offering, with gross profit increasing by 24.1% from £2.9m to £3.6m.
ENDS
Enquiries:
H&T Group plc
Tel: 020 8225 2797
John Nichols, Chief Executive
Richard Withers, Interim Finance Director
Numis Securities (Broker and Nominated Adviser)
Tel: 020 7260 1000
Luke Bordewich, Nominated Adviser
Mark Lander, Corporate Broking
Haggie Partners (Public Relations)
Tel: 020 7562 4444
Damian Beeley
Sarah Shephard