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International Personal Finance PLC on Thursday said good first-half momentum continued throughout its third quarter, hailing its disciplined approach and strong portfolio. The Leeds, England-based company, which offers small unsecured cash loans, said it continued to perform ahead of internal forecasts during the third quarter of 2023. Customer lending, excluding Poland, increased 11% in the year to date. Customer receivables increased 15%, or 4% at constant exchange rates, to close at £875 million. Chief Executive Officer Gerard Ryan commented: ‘Demand for our product range is strong and all our markets continue to deliver good growth in customer lending and receivables, the only exception being Poland where, as expected, lending has moderated as we adapt to serving our customers under the new pricing and affordability regulations there.’ IPF also said customer repayments continued to be robust, and impairment rates remained in line with its expectations. Non-operational cash balances increased by £16 million to £100 million at September 30, and IPF secured £44 million of debt facilities during the quarter. IPF is currently orchestrating a ‘business transformation’ and credit card roll-out in Poland, which it said is ‘progressing well’ with over 100,000 cards issued so far. Since the period’s end it priced £14 million of bonds in the Polish debt capital market. ‘Credit quality is very good throughout the group, and our balance sheet and funding position remains robust,’ Ryan said. ‘We continue to make good progress in raising new funding and refinancing our existing facilities which will support our future growth plans.’ Separately on Wednesday, IPF said Senior Independent Director Richard Holmes will step down with effect from December 1, to be replaced by Katrina Cliffe. He will remain on the board, including as chair of the Audit & Risk Committee. IPF said it is making the change to meet targets set by the UK Financial Conduct Authority for board diversity. Cliffe previously served as senior independent director at HomeServe PLC, and joined IPF’s board as a non-executive director in August 2022. International Personal Finance shares were up 0.4% at 128.50 pence in London on Thursday afternoon. Copyright 2023 Alliance News Ltd. All Rights Reserved.
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