Malcolm Le May, Chief Executive Officer, commented:

 I am pleased to report that the Group’s financial performance in FY’21 improved significantly year-on-year and, as a result, our adjusted PBT from continuing operations was marginally ahead of market expectations. We have exited high-cost short-term credit and we are now focused on providing mid-cost credit products to over 1.6m customers.

2021 was a strategically important year for PFG: we commenced the rebuilding of our cards franchise following the pandemic, we established a personal loans business supported by a brand new IT platform and we closed the Consumer Credit Division (CCD) in response to changing industry dynamics. We also improved the funding mix of the Group with the issuance of a Tier 2 subordinated bond. Most importantly, we achieved all of this whilst maintaining a focus on providing our customers with the credit products they need.

Reflecting the improved performance of the Group, I am pleased to report that the Board is proposing a dividend of 12p per share for FY’21, which represents a pay-out ratio of adjusted continuing earnings3 of approximately 30%. Going forwards, we anticipate moving towards a pay-out ratio of adjusted earnings of circa 40% from FY’22 onwards.

During the first quarter of 2022, PFG has continued to see positive momentum across its three businesses quarter-on-quarter. In the credit card business, new account bookings are tracking ahead of expectations and delinquency trends remain favourable and consistent with the year-end position. In the vehicle finance business, demand from customers remains buoyant, particularly in the near-prime segment, and collections and arrears rates are stable. In the personal loans business, the pilot phases for Vanquis Bank Loans and Sunflower Loans continue to progress encouragingly. PFG remains well positioned to cope with the macroeconomic uncertainty that may arise from the current inflationary environment in the UK and we continue to support our customers through this time.”

Key financial results

Highlights

2021 was an important year for PFG as it delivered several key strategic initiatives 

• PFG continued to focus on its strategic goals during 2021, with the launch of its personal loans business and the closure of CCD, whilst supporting its customers and colleagues.
• Group profit before tax of £4.1m (FY’20 loss before tax: £113.5m) reflects an improvement in the profitability of the Group driven by a favourable macroeconomic backdrop to the end of 2021.
• Group adjusted profit before tax from continuing operations of £167.8m (FY’20: £27.8m) improved significantly year-on-year and excludes exceptional items relating to the closure of CCD and various other corporate activities including the 2023 Senior bond.
• At the end of December 2021, the Group’s capital and liquidity positions remained robust with regulatory capital of £707m (FY’20: £675m), equating to a CET1 ratio of 29.1% (FY’20: 34.2%) and, following the issuance of a Tier 2 subordinated bond in October 2021, a total capital ratio of 40.6%. This equates to a surplus of £344m (FY’20: £264m) above the minimum regulatory requirement. Total Group liquidity at the end of December 2021 was approximately £700m (FY’20: £900m) reflecting more normalised levels.
• As previously indicated, and enabled by the Group’s strong capital position, the Board is proposing an interim dividend for FY’21 of approximately 30% of adjusted continuing earnings³, which equates to a dividend per share of 12p. Going forwards, the Board anticipates moving towards a pay-out ratio of circa 40% of adjusted earnings³ from FY’22 onwards.
• Credit card adjusted PBT improved significantly year-on-year; customer acquisition trends improved during Q1’22
• The Group’s credit card business reported adjusted PBT for the year of £173.9m (FY’20: £39.5m) which was ahead of internal plans and significantly better than last year driven by lower impairment year-on-year.
• New customer bookings for the period were 199k (FY’20: 241k) reflecting the maintenance of tighter underwriting criteria in response to Covid-19. The total number of customers at the end of December stood at 1.54m (FY’20: 1.67m), which was driven by the closure of approximately 114k dormant customer accounts broadly offsetting lower charge offs during the period owing to the benefits of furlough and payment holidays.
• Customer credit card expenditure trends continued to track closely with industry trends. At the end of December, spend on a per average active customer basis was approximately 12% higher year-on-year. This notwithstanding, when combined with lower customer bookings year-on-year and payments per active customer remaining stable, receivables at the end of December stood at £1,063m (FY’20: £1,075m).
• The annualised impairment rate at the end of December was 0.3% (FY’20: 19.3%) reflecting the benefit of impairment provision releases during the period and the lower level of charge offs as a result of Covid-19 customer support and furlough. As a result, the risk-adjusted net interest margin improved to 36.0% (FY’20: 17.0%).
• On 24 March 2022, PFG announced that it had hired Fiona Anderson for the newly created role of Managing Director of Cards. Fiona has a wealth of significant experience across credit cards and personal banking. From 2019 to 2021, she served as Head of Everyday Banking at HSBC and prior to that she held senior positions at Mastercard and Barclaycard including Head of Growth Accounts for Mastercard Worldwide. Her most recent role was Managing Director, Global Consumer Solutions UK at Equifax, the consumer credit reporting agency.

Vehicle finance adjusted PBT improved year-on-year; average credit and customer quality remained high

• The Group’s vehicle finance business delivered adjusted PBT for the period of £28.9m (FY’20: £10.9m) which represents significant growth year-on-year. The increase was driven by a reduction in impairment owing to Covid-19 support schemes and furlough.
• At the end of December, there were 94k vehicle finance customers (FY’20: 91k) and receivables of £586m (FY’20: £567m). Growth in customers and receivables year-on-year was moderated by higher than anticipated early customer settlements driven by a buoyant second hand car market.
• Credit issued during 2021 was £287m, flat year-on-year, despite new business volumes decreasing marginally to 37k (FY’20: 38k).
• The annualised impairment rate decreased to 7.6% (FY’20: 13.6%) driven by lower arrears rates and provision releases as a result of a more benign macroeconomic backdrop during the period. As a result, the risk-adjusted net interest margin improved to 11.1% (FY’20: 6.9%).

Personal loans business established; loan pilot phases started encouragingly

• PFG has established a personal loans business under the leadership of Hamish Paton (Managing Director). The business will incorporate loans under two brands, Vanquis Bank Loans and Sunflower Loans, both of which are currently in pilot phases that have started encouragingly.
• The two products will target distinct customer segments, based on average credit score bands, and initially the loans will range from £1-5k over a period of 12 to 48 months.
• PFG invested in a new IT infrastructure platform, known as ‘Gateway’, in order to support the new personal loan product, and which is capable of housing multiple products over time. Importantly, it will provide customers with a single, holistic view of PFG product offerings. The personal loans business is an important part of PFG’s strategy to diversify its product offering and to cater to customer demand.

Read more here.

¹       Adjusted profit before tax from continuing operations is stated before: (i) £7.5m of amortisation in respect of acquisition intangibles established as part of the acquisition of Moneybarn in August 2014 (FY’20: £7.5m); (ii) exceptional costs which includes Scheme of Arrangement costs, redundancy costs and certain other corporate activities; and (iii) costs relating to the closure of CCD of £95.5m (FY’20 £74.9m).

 ²      Return on average required regulatory capital (RORE) reflects annualised adjusted profit after tax divided by the average regulatory capital requirement.

³       Adjusted earnings of £98m in FY’21 is defined as profit after tax from continuing operations before amortisation of acquisition intangibles and any exceptional items including one-off provision releases.

Note: This report may contain certain "forward looking statements" regarding the financial position, business strategy or plans for future operations of PFG. All statements other than statements of historical fact included in this document may be forward looking statements. Forward looking statements also often use words such as "believe", "expect", "estimate", "intend", "anticipate" and words of a similar meaning. By their nature, forward looking statements involve risk and uncertainty that could cause actual results to differ from those suggested by them. Much of the risk and uncertainty relates to factors that are beyond PFG’s ability to control or estimate precisely, such as future market conditions and the behaviours of other market participants, and therefore undue reliance should not be placed on such statements which speak only as at the date of this report. PFG does not assume any obligation to, and does not intend to, revise or update these forward-looking statements, except as required pursuant to applicable law or regulation.

No statement in this announcement is intended as a profit forecast or estimate for any period. No statement in this announcement should be interpreted to indicate a particular level of profit and, as a consequence, it should not be possible to derive a profit figure for any future period from this report.