24 Auguat 2010 – Interim Results
The pawnbroking group H & T has announced excellent results for the six months to 30 June helped by strong growth in lending, with pre-tax profits up by 70.6% to £14.5m (2009: £8.5m). Earnings per share were up by almost 80% to 29.37p (2009: 16.39p) and the interim dividend of 3.5p includes 1.0p of special dividend in light of the figures. Six new stores were opened during the period taking the total to 128 stores and yet net debt has fallen to £30.4m from £42.3m at the start of the period. Profits for the full year are now likely to be above the top end of market expectations of £21.1m (EPS – 42.9p) and ahead of the likely upgrades the shares are a BUY.