S&U PLC on Thursday said that it remained confident of opportunities in the year ahead, as the ‘very good trading’ seen in early December continues.
The Birmingham, England-based motor and property finance lender said that trading in both its Advantage and Aspen businesses remains ‘excellent’, following its last update in December.
The former is S&U’s motor finance lender, while the latter is its property bridging lender. Net receivables at Advantage were around £360 million, up 18% on last year. S&U said this growth was driven by transaction numbers, an increase in deal size, and marginally longer terms for higher scoring customers.
For the period from December 8 to January 31, net receivables at Aspen rose marginally from £108 million to £114 million. S&U noted that while the re-mortgage market has slowed, the ‘overall quality’ of Aspen’s loan book means that profit exceeds budget.
Group net receivables have now risen to about £420 million from £370 million at the half year.
Based on progress at both businesses, S&U expects full-year results for the twelve months ended January 31 to both meet expectations and exceed budget.
For financial 2022, S&U reported pretax profit of £47.0 million on revenue of 87.9 million. For the first half of financial 2023, pretax profit was £21.0 million on revenue of £49.4 million.
S&U said it will add to its current £210 million in committed lending facilities during the first half of 2023, in order to support growth at Aspen.
The company proposed a second interim dividend of 38 pence per share, up from 36p year-on-year.
‘Whilst the uncertainties of forecasting and fly casting have much in common, 2023 is likely to see constrained levels of consumer confidence and spending in the UK. Nevertheless, historically this has and, I believe, will continue to present good, responsible, lending opportunities for S&U. We will take advantage of these with the same agility, prudence and imagination which has served S&U so well for so long,’ said Chair Anthony Coombs.
S&U shares were trading 0.5% higher at 2,098.40p each in London on Thursday morning.
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