International Personal Finance, a consumer credit provider based in Leeds, has reported higher than expected profits for 2024 as it continues to focus on future growth.
The firm's pre-tax profit came in at £85.2m, surpassing analysts' predicted range of £78m-£82m, as reported by .
The company's annual financial report highlighted record profits from its operations in Mexico and Australia, as well as unprecedented lending volumes in Hungary.
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Analysts at Peel Hunt commented: "Building on the strong first-half performance, the group has delivered a step-up in growth in the second half, while overall financial results were ahead of previous guidance given exemplary credit quality across the receivables book."
The company's balance sheet remained robust, with Peel Hunt analysts describing it as a "key underpinning of future growth."
By the end of 2024, the group had £138m of headroom on funding facilities, thanks to securing £103m of bank funding during the year.
Consequently, the board increased the firm's final dividend by 11.1 per cent to eight pence, with plans to initiate a £15m share buyback programme.
International Personal Finance CEO Gerard Ryan said: "The ongoing execution of our Next Gen strategy has delivered good growth, and we provided over £1bn of credit to those who find it difficult to get finance from banks."
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"Beyond these strong financial results, we served our 15 millionth customer in September, a great sign of our ability and commitment to supporting underserved communities."
The stock is currently trading at approximately six times its forecast earnings for 2025, which Peel Hunt believes "does not reflect the strong performance being delivered and the return to both loan book and earnings growth".
"With a yield of close to 10 per cent and another £15m buyback, we see clear upside in the shares," the analysts added.