H&T profit falls in H1 as lockdown restrictions dent revenue

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Pawnbroking group H&T cut its interim dividend after reporting a fall in profit as revenue was hurt by the impact of government-imposed lockdown restrictions.

For the six months ended 30 June 2020, pre-tax profit was down 26.5% to £5.0m on-year as revenue fell 20% to £56m.

The personal loan book reduced 43.8% to £10.0m.

'With lock-down in March we closed all stores in order to protect colleagues and customers, and we have launched our online payment portal,' the company said.

'We also froze interest on pawnbroking loans while our stores were closed and have offered payment deferral arrangements to those lending customers impacted by the financial implications of Covid-19,' it added.

The interim dividend was cut to 2.5p from 4.7p last year.

At 8:59am: (LON:HAT) HT Group PLC share price was +4.5p at 319.5p