What H&T does
H&T GROUP PLC (LON:HAT) is a UK pawnbroker and financial services firm.
Its pawnbroking business buys and sells used jewellery, watches, gold, handbags and art.
The group also provides in-store personal loans of up to £5,000 and sells foreign currency to holidaymakers.
In 2020 it implemented an online pawnbroking payment portal to settle loans remotely.
How it's doing
The AIM-listed firm delivered a strong financial performance in 2020 despite the impact of the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic.
The year saw revenue slide to £129.1mln from £160.2mln in 2019, with pawnbroking net revenue 12.3% lower at £39.0mln compared to £34.2mln in 2019, reflecting the freezing of customer interest on outstanding loans and the reduction in the pledge book.
The group’s pledge book was down by about a third to £48.3mln from £72.2mln a year earlier while the personal loan book was down by almost two-thirds at £5.9mln from £16.6mln.
Profit before tax fell to £15.6mln from £20.1mln the year before while underlying earnings (EBITDA) declined 12.7% to £26.2mln from the previous year’s £30.0mln.
What the CEO says: Chris Gillespie, the chief executive
“We are well placed to reinforce our position as the UK's largest pawnbroker and grow our lines of business once COVID-19 restrictions are lifted and consumer demand for short term borrowing returns. We have no debt and significant cash resources to rebuild the pledge book when underlying customer demand increases.”
“Market conditions remain challenging, but we are confident that our long-term goals and strategy will deliver growth and value for all our stakeholders,” he added.
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Inflexion points
- Investment in digital presence as more customers shift to online
- Strong gold price is adding to good performance
- Rated an essential service during current lockdown