International Personal Finance escapes second Polish punishment

LONDON (ShareCast) - Shares (Berlin: DI6.BE - news) in International Personal Finance (LSE: IPF.L - news) were boosted on Tuesday morning as the home-credit group escaped a fine from Poland's consumer protection authority, though several issues still dog the company in that country. After an investigation into fee structures, the Polish Office of Consumer Protection and Competition's (UOKiK) has agreed to waive a fine if IPF's Provident Polska implement a new product and fee structure from 1 August.

This new structure will include fixed fees for administration and home service, though IPF's management believes these changes will have "no material financial impact", based on tests currently underway.

Separately, the FTSE 250 group said it continued to await a court date to begin its appeal against the fine levied by UOKiK in December 2013 due to the way the company calculates its total cost of credit and annual percentage rate.

Broker Shore Capital also noted that the Polish Financial Services Authority is discussing proposals to implement a cap on mandatory non-interest charges, though again management is confident this will not have a material impact on financial performance, assuming that the optional home service charge falls outside of the definition of a mandatory fee.

ShoreCap estimated a pre-tax profit contribution of £72.1m from the Poland-Lithuania region in the current full year, representing just under 60% of its total group adjusted pre-tax profit estimate of £121.1m.

Shares in IPF were up 5.6% at 09:30 on Tuesday.