Virgin Cash has made an even bigger than anticipated provision for unhealthy loans, which hit the UK lender’s income and despatched its shares down by 10 per cent on Thursday, because the cost-of residing disaster dents clients’ skill to pay their bank card balances.
Provisions for unhealthy loans on the challenger financial institution elevated almost sixfold to £144mn within the six months to March 31, from £21mn in the identical interval in 2022 and above expectations of £129mn.
Statutory pre-tax income fell 25 per cent to £236mn, beating analysts’ estimates of £226mn. Revenues rose 10 per cent to £933mn, the financial institution mentioned on Thursday. The consensus was for £911mn.
“We’re seeing a modest pick-up in arrears, mentioned chief monetary officer Clifford Abrahams. “They’re not spiking however there’s extra normalisation which you’d count on.”
The group elevated its mannequin for anticipated credit score losses by £83mn to £455mn within the first half of the yr, towards £372mn in 2022 because it factored in up to date financial situations akin to UK GDP, inflation, unemployment charges and home costs.
Abrahams mentioned information from credit score bureaus, which signalled increased ranges of buyer indebtedness, had additionally pushed modifications within the mannequin. Excessive utility payments, in the meantime, dented clients’ affordability, lowering the quantity of latest enterprise for the lender.
Virgin Cash mentioned it anticipated a “continued enhance” in arrears, notably in its bank cards portfolio, which was the “major driver” behind the downgrading of a few of its unsecured loans.
The quantity of reduction — akin to an extension in reimbursement phrases — the financial institution granted to clients struggling to pay their bank card payments totalled £73mn throughout greater than 18,000 accounts within the first half, up from £62mn throughout almost 16,000 accounts within the earlier six months. The quantity of bank card balances reaching 180 days overdue additionally elevated, driving a slight rise in write-offs for unsecured loans, the financial institution mentioned.
Almost 90 per cent of the FTSE 250 lender’s impairment fees have been linked to its unsecured e-book. Impairment fees associated to unsecured lending rose almost two-fold from the identical interval final yr to £126mn.
Chief government David Duffy, nonetheless, insisted the challenger financial institution was seeing “no signal of stress” in its mortgage e-book and no “materials deterioration” in any asset lessons throughout its portfolio.
“What we’ve performed is replace our mannequin . . . anticipating the stresses within the financial system,” he mentioned.
The board of the FTSE 250 lender, which in November introduced a 7.5p per share dividend for 2022, advisable an interim dividend of three.3p per share.
It plans to reward buyers with a 30 per cent full-year dividend payout ratio this yr and expects additional share buybacks all year long, topic to the Financial institution of England’s stress exams.
The group upgraded the full-year outlook for its web curiosity margin — the distinction between the curiosity it receives on its loans and the speed it pays for deposits — which it now expects to achieve 1.9 per cent in 2023.
Shares in Virgin Cash have fallen 16 per cent this yr, having been hit by fears of wider contagion within the banking sector after the collapse of Silicon Valley Financial institution and bother at different lenders, together with Credit score Suisse.
