29 March 2012 – final results
In the year to 31 January, the home credit and motor finance group S & U has produced yet another excellent set of results. Revenues rose by 8% to £51.9m (2011: £48.0m) whilst pre-tax profits rose by 24% to a record £12.2m (2011: £9.9m). Earnings per share were 27% higher at 76.1p (2011: 60.0p) and the total dividend for the year was raised to 41p (2011: 36p). Gearing has been reduced to 34% (2011: 43%).
Both divisions have done well with pre-tax profits at the Home Credit divison rising by 12% to £6.3m, although once again the star performer was the Motor Finance division where pre-tax profits rose by 40% to £5.9m. In Home Credit, new branches were opened in Glasgow, Swindon and Rotherham and customer numbers grew by 2%. The Motor Finance division posted record profits for the 12th consecutive year with a record number of both customers and transactions.
With a strong balance sheet, the group has significant headroom to make further acquisitions following the acquisition of Norton Finance post the year end. These are excellent figures once again, and despite the rise in the share price we continue to rate the shares as a BUY.