Albemarle & Bond, the UK based pawnbroker and financial services company, announced that final results to June 2011 showed revenues of £101.9 million (2010: £82.0 million), pre-tax profit of £21.0 million (2010: £20.0 million), EPS of 27.7p (2010: 25.89p) and DPS of 12.5p (2010: 11.75p). The company reported that only 1% of the UK population has been in a pawnbroking store.

The year end estate comprised 159 full line stores (2010: 132) and 38 pop-up shops (2010: 15). 45 stores are under two years old and hence are at an early stage of building their pledge books. At least 25 new stores are planned for 2011/12, of which 7 are already open.

A Chief Information Officer has been appointed, bringing IT delivery experience from companies such as Halfords, Home Retail and Boots. The ability to offer services online is being developed. A unified branch operating system is being developed, which will provide a multi channel capability. A new loan administration system has been developed. These systems in combination will assist cost reduction, credit control and data mining.

Year end net debt was £33.2 million, equivalent to 1.35x EBITDA. Trading since the year end has been slightly ahead of expectations.

The ABM share price has increased by 22% over the last year.

Albemarle & Bond Holdings Plc is currently graded A by LCF Research. To learn more, follow the link.

Unlock the rest of this article with a 14 day trial

Already have an account?
Login here