2016 may have been a year of shocks, but niche lender S & U Plc (LON:SUS) did its usual thing and turned in a record performance.
“Brexit, Trump and another record set of results from S&U, plus ca change...” is chairman Anthony Coombs’s pithy opening comment in his review of the motor finance specialist’s results for the year to the end of January 2017.
"S&U continues to go from strength to strength with our motor finance business delivering its 17th successive year of record pre-tax profits,” Coombs noted.
Shares opened 4.8% higher at 2,194p as the company revealed a 29% year-on-year increase in profit before tax from continuing operations of £25.2mln, compared to £19.5mln the year before.
WATCH: S&U continuing to go from "strength to strength" ....
Basic earnings per share of 170.7p were up from 133.6p the year before and a shade higher than the market consensus forecast of 170.4p.
Revenues rose 34% to £60.5mln from £45.2mln the year before.
Advantage Finance, the motor finance business, achieved a record of more than 20,000 new agreements, an increase of 32% on the previous year.
As flagged in its trading update last month, net receivables are now £193.5mln, up 33% from £145.1mln last year.
The group’s new secured bridging finance operation, Aspen Bridging, is now being piloted.
The business will provide bridging finance for individuals and business owners, secured on residential and commercial property.
The business is still in its infancy, but Coombs said its infrastructure and service capabilities provide a good foundation, so the group is therefore exploring its ability to benefit from a bridging market where aggregated loan balances are estimated to reach £8.8bn a year in the UK by 2020.
The full-year dividend, as expected by the market, rose to 91p from 76p the year before, with the final dividend up 18.2% to 39p from 33p.
“Any markets exhibiting significant growth will inevitably attract competition, and those for used car finance and property bridging are no exception,” Coombs acknowledged in the outlook statement.
“Both Advantage and Aspen operate in growing markets. These in turn exist within a robust British economy, where the labour market is strong and where the current focus on increasing productivity and reducing regulation should underpin economic growth.
“Our continued purpose is to take responsible and sustainable advantage of this; I am confident we will,” Coombs concluded.