HAT

H&t Group Plc

417.00
-4.00 (-0.95%)
Share Name Share Symbol Market Type Share ISIN Share Description
H&t Group Plc LSE:HAT London Ordinary Share GB00B12RQD06 ORD 5P
  Price Change % Change Share Price Shares Traded Last Trade
  -4.00 -0.95% 417.00 46,311 16:35:13
Bid Price Offer Price High Price Low Price Open Price
412.00 420.00 420.00 410.00 419.00
Industry Sector Turnover (m) Profit (m) EPS - Basic PE Ratio Market Cap (m)
Finance Services 173.94 14.91 34.00 12.38 182.86
Last Trade Time Trade Type Trade Size Trade Price Currency
17:26:44 O 3,970 416.112 GBX

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Date Time Title Posts
18/5/202313:58Harvey and Thompson Pawnbrokers1,231
07/3/202314:18*** Harvey and Thompson ***69
16/4/201216:55Trading Story21
24/5/201007:39H&T - Growth in recession and credit crisis times173
17/1/201013:15H&T with Charts & News13

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Posted at 16/5/2023 17:02 by lord loads of lolly
An interesting RNS announced after yesterday's close for H&T's new performance-related share option scheme: hTTps://otp.tools.investis.com/clients/uk/harvey-and-thompson/rns/regulatory-story.aspx?cid=135&newsid=1687750. The way I read it, qualifying senior management don't have to pay for their options, providing they achieve set targets. If so, that to me is ridiculous. Surely they should STILL have to pay (even if at a lower-than-current-market price)? That said, the targets to qualify look fairly ambitious, with a MINIMUM 106% increase in EPS by 31 December 2025. If they achieve even that, there should be a substantial upward share price re-rate by then. Not to mention a significant boost to dividend payouts. I topped up further, both yesterday & today, on the share price weakness, as I can't see any obvious reason for it. Ex dividend this Thursday, so thought I'd get in beforehand to qualify for June's 10p a share payout. The price could well drift lower still (particularly on 18th when it goes ex-div). But on a 12 month+ view, I'm reasonably confident my latest buys will prove sound.
Posted at 15/5/2023 15:46 by lord loads of lolly
Odd weakness in the share price today (15th May), given the lack of any obvious news to drive things. HAT only goes ex-dividend on 18th May, but maybe someone's jumped the gun! Anyhow, I topped up today as a result. The outlook was good enough for HAT's biggest shareholder to add significantly on 10 May (when the price closed at 446p). So it was good enough for me today, at just below 430p. Directors have also added recently, notably Chris Gillespie (CEO), with a further 25,000 shares @ 428p on 28 March. And the CFO bought 7,500 shares @ 431p on 3 April. Neither of them perhaps huge trades in their eyes, but a small vote of confidence nonetheless. Here's hoping there's nothing sinister about today's drop - I somehow think the Directors would have been the first to know if so....
Posted at 31/1/2023 19:06 by thorpematt
taylor20,

I ain't no accountant, BUT: -

basically when the pledge book rises HAT is lending more money out.

Each loan comes with a credit risk. IFRS9 dictates that you MUST record an impairment charge against those loans in case you don't get them paid back. This is called Expected credit loss (or ECL).

Incidentally, the other thing that goes up when HAT is doing well is the debt (a bit like it does for banks). Both of these things are (contrarily) good signs for future profits.

simple terms:-
hTtps://www.bis.org/fsi/fsisummaries/ifrs9.pdf

complex terms:-
hTtps://www.pwc.com/gx/en/audit-services/ifrs/publications/ifrs-9/ifrs-9-understanding-the-basics.pdf

One effect of all this is that your current profits are reduced by future possible impairments (this happens when your "sales" are rising, it unwindss when falling). Naturally in periods when loan volumes level off there is no net increase in impairment or decrease). Again counter-intuitively increased impairment due to rising pledgebook is a good sign.

Posted at 25/1/2023 09:54 by lord loads of lolly
Thanks scotches. Questor's conclusion in this Telegraph piece is that HAT is a hold at its current price. But that's just one opinion and media tipsters don't always get it right. Far from it in fact. Personally (barring any further global or UK-specific black swan events for now), I expect HAT to exceed 550p at some stage this year. At which point, I'd be looking to reduce my holding somewhat.
Posted at 18/1/2023 16:12 by lord loads of lolly
thorpematt - I agree H&T is continuing to trade well, steadily expanding both organically & via acquisition. I think it's a well run business & Shore Cap's forecast may prove right. Who knows? But it's worth remembering that 3 years ago (year ending 31/12/19), Operating Profit was £22.49M, EPS 43.88p with an Interim only Dividend of 4.7p. The share price then was around 360p-380p. H&T has always traded on a lowish P/E, despite its decent yield & track record. That said, I suspect we'll see the £5.00 share price level breached again within the next year. I just hope it nudges below £4.50 at some stage before then, so I can buy back the small part of the holding I sold at £5.03. If not, I'm confident the shares I retain will deliver anyway. But I'd be happy to increase my exposure here, as it seems one of the safer options currently (as much as any share ever is!) UPDATE: My limit buy order was triggered this morning (20 Jan) at £4.485. I'm happy with that, as It reinstates the value of the fractional holding I sold for £5.03 a share on 1 Dec 22. And it'll boost my final dividend payment in June. Given H&T's store expansion & the economic backdrop, I reckon it still has at least 1 years' decent growth left. But I'll be monitoring carefully, with a view to reducing again, if the share price nudges above the £5.50 level later this year.
Posted at 21/12/2022 17:49 by lord loads of lolly
As I've already mentioned on the LSE board, the daily reported H&T share price rise/fall is totally bogus. It's almost always done by marketmakers simply widening or narrowing the spread between one day & the next. In other words, one day the share price might end on 480p Bid, 485p Ask. The next, it ends 470p Bid, 485p Ask. It's actually no cheaper to buy shares on Day 2 than Day 1. But the share price shows a fall of 10p (or just over 2%), as the Bid value has dropped. Then, as if by magic, next day or soon after, the spread narrows again, suggesting another share price rise. And rinse & repeat.
Posted at 14/12/2022 15:42 by lord loads of lolly
I think it's more a case of the share price getting a bit ahead of events when it breached £5 recently (an all-time high). Which is why I sold a small portion of my holding at just under 503p. I retain the bulk of my holding though, as I fully expect the price to exceed £5 again at some point in the next 12 months. And if it falls back below £4.50 in the meantime, I'll repurchase the amount I sold. I think you're right that interest rates will rise again tomorrow. But they'll probably now peak lower than the consensus view of just a few weeks ago. The gold price (though still strong) is also below its recent November peak. In short, investors already know the economic downturn will benefit HAT, which is well-positioned. Short term fluctuations in its share price are little more than noise.
Posted at 03/8/2022 08:46 by spob
https://www.ft.com/content/258faa69-0ab1-4b73-8cc7-902059f094d9


UK risks deepening recession, warns think-tank


By 2024, millions will be left with no savings as cover, says National Institute of Economic and Social Research

Food and energy prices are set to remain at levels that will cause ongoing hardship for many people into 2024

Delphine Strauss


The UK economy is sliding into recession, with no let-up in sight in a cost of living crisis that will leave more than 5mn households with their savings exhausted by 2024, according to new forecasts by the National Institute of Economic and Social Research.

The think-tank expects GDP to fall “slightly” over the second half of 2022 and the first quarter of 2023 but said on Wednesday that the risks of a deeper recession were growing. It saw an “evens chance” that GDP would be lower at the end of 2022 than a year earlier.

It also said that regional disparities were widening, with London powering ahead of the rest of the country.

Niesr called on the next prime minister to step up direct support for the poorest households, rather than prioritising tax cuts, arguing that even if inflation slowed next year, food and energy prices were set to remain at levels that would cause ongoing hardship for many people into 2024.

“Political uncertainty in Westminster is untimely and will delay fiscal support to millions,” Niesr said. It urged the government to increase its energy grant to low-income households and boost benefits payments for at least six months when regulated gas and electricity prices rise again in October.

The £200bn of savings some households had accumulated during the pandemic could help prop up consumer spending in the second half of the year, Niesr said. But these were distributed “highly unequally”, with demand for foreign holidays “surging as millions are reported to be struggling with shopping for household essentials”.

The think-tank predicts that the number of households with no savings at all to fall back on will double to 5.3mn by 2024, with almost 7mn households living from one pay cheque to the next with savings worth less than two months of disposable income.

More than 1mn households could experience severe destitution, Niesr added, with food and energy bills exceeding their disposable income and forcing them “to choose between eating and heating” or to turn to loan sharks.

“There is no substitute for continued targeted welfare,” Niesr said, noting that the race for the Conservative party leadership had focused on tax cuts rather than the “urgent necessity to continue support for the most vulnerable”.

It also said that the government should use some of its fiscal room to raise public sector pay according to the needs of individual sectors, rather than “with an eye to inflation”, arguing that public services were generally provided without a price, so did not directly feed consumer price inflation.

The think-tank blamed both the Bank of England and the government for allowing high inflation to take hold, arguing that a premature tightening of fiscal policy had left monetary policymakers “reluctant to raise rates with demand still fragile”.

Stephen Millard, Niesr’s deputy director for macroeconomics, said it was now “up to the monetary policy committee to make sure inflation does come down next year and the new chancellor to support those households most affected”.

Posted at 31/7/2022 19:34 by spob
https://www.ft.com/content/d2ed0b8c-38d1-4e07-8e7b-206a18b28035

Pawnbroking surges in UK amid cost of living squeeze



Leke Oso Alabi and Siddharth Venkataramakrishnan in London

July 29 2022


The customers that walk through the doors of Ramsdens pawnbrokers use the lending service in starkly different ways.

“We’ve got a very good customer [with] a platinum Rolex, which is probably worth about £50,000 [or] £60,000,” said Peter Kenyon, the company’s chief executive. “He’s a builder and when his cash flow is short he gives us the Rolex, borrows between £10,000 and £20,000 . . . pays interest at 2 per cent a month, then pays us back when his cash flow improves.”

But Kenyon noted the chain also assists customers who need small sums because they’ve “got to feed the kids, or buy the school uniform”.

The UK’s pawnbroking sector is reporting strong post-coronavirus lockdown growth, as rapidly increasing living costs boost demand from borrowers seeking small loans, while a crackdown on high-interest lenders has left customers with limited options. Listed companies that offer “pledge lending” — typically small loans secured on assets such as jewellery and watches — have reported strong growth in sales and profits, boosting their share prices in recent months.

Shares in H&T Group, the UK’s largest pawnbroker, have risen 37.6 per cent this year, while those in rival Ramsdens are up 8.6 per cent over the same period as of the close of trade on Monday.

Kenyon said weekly customer numbers within Ramsdens’ shops were 20 per cent higher than pre-pandemic levels: “A lot of that is driven by what the consumer [is] facing and the cost of living increase, but we lend for a raft of reasons — we do lending to businesses . . . we’ve lent for school fees.”

H&T this month said its pledge book — loans linked to a customer’s asset — was worth £84mn in June, up sharply from £48mn in the same month last year.

“The cost of living, yes, absolutely that’s driving the need to borrow, but I think the larger of the two issues is that people have got less options open to them,” said H&T chief executive Chris Gillespie. “The need of people to borrow has returned . . . but that need has returned into a market where the supply of small sum credit is massively reduced.”
Line chart of Share prices rebased showing 'Pledge lending' boosts UK pawnbrokers

He added that the clear difference between pawnbroking and most other forms of lending was that “our only recourse is to the asset . . . we don’t and can’t ever go back to the borrower if there’s a shortfall [in repayment]”.

However, like other forms of lending there are risks associated with using pawnbrokers.

“Using a pawnbroker can be a relatively expensive way to borrow and you can usually only borrow a percentage of the value of the item you want to pawn,” said Caroline Siarkiewicz, chief executive of the Money and Pensions Service, which is sponsored by the UK’s Department for Work and Pensions.

Consumers can expect to pay a pawnbroker a higher rate of interest than they would for a high street loan — but less than a payday lender, according to the Money and Pensions Service.

If a borrower fails to repay the loan, ownership of the asset passes to the pawnbroker, who could sell it. They have to try to secure the best value for the item, and any surplus generated after the debt is paid must be returned to the customer.

Ramsdens said pawnbrokers typically charged 8-10 per cent a month. Customers have six months to repay their loan and more than 95 per cent pay the full loan back in one instalment.

Siarkiewicz noted that this method of borrowing can be tempting “because it is a quick way to get access to cash”. But she stressed it was important customers “shop around to find the most competitive rates and make sure they’re FCA regulated”.

Around 130 members of the National Pawnbrokers Association run 870 outlets around the UK, accounting for 97 per cent of the industry. The largest brands are H&T, Cash Converters and Ramsdens, but most members run just a single store.

Many of those companies have benefited from the demise of subprime lenders or non-standard finance providers, which prospered after the 2008 financial crisis, as mainstream banks became reluctant to lend to consumers with blemished credit files.

Ramsdens said it ended its own payday lending offering when market conditions shifted.

“It was scary where the pricing had got to, so people would borrow £100 and have to pay back £140,” said Kenyon.

The Financial Conduct Authority clamped down on the sector in response to fears about rising levels of consumer debt. The number of active high-cost, short-term lenders in the UK fell by almost a third between 2016 and the third quarter of 2020, according to FCA figures.

“The FCA have regulated the market almost to death,” added Kenyon.

Wonga, once the UK’s largest payday loan provider, filed for administration in 2018 after a surge of customer complaints. Provident Financial, one of the largest participants in Britain’s subprime market, shut a unit providing “high cost lending” last year.

Amigo Loans, which offers “guarantor loans” backed up by a borrower’s friends or family, has also been out of the market. The group is awaiting FCA approval to recommence lending for the first time since November 2020 following a backlog of complaints and uncertainty caused by the pandemic.

There are now concerns that people struggling to access credit may turn to buy now, pay later services, a type of short-term lending that allows consumers to pay for purchases in instalments.
Recommended
Financial & markets regulation
UK outlines plans to tighten ‘buy now pay later’ rules

These services boomed during the pandemic as online shopping surged. However, according to polling data from debt charity StepChange, half of those with buy now, pay later loans in the UK said they found it hard to keep up with household bills and credit repayments.

Debt charities have also raised concerns about the increased use of pawnbrokers.

“With everyday costs soaring it’s no surprise to hear more people are using pawnbrokers,” said Theodora Hadjimichael, chief executive of Responsible Finance. “But you shouldn’t need to put your wedding ring or a family heirloom at risk to pay an unexpected expense.”

Posted at 16/3/2022 07:07 by tole
Questor: Watchdog's review casts a shadow but this pawnbroker has just raised its divi by 41pcQuestor share tip: H&T's short-term loans are under regulatory scrutiny but the core business appears to be in rude healthOur initial analysis two years ago of H&T, Britain's leading pawnbroker, has yet to yield any paper profits, largely thanks to shadows cast by an ongoing regulatory review by the City watchdog of the firm's unsecured high-cost short-term loans business. However, the core pledge book and retail operations appear to be performing well, if last week's full-year results are any guide, the balance sheet is sound and the shares look good value on a yield and book value basis.Concerns over the regulator's inquiry could yet hamper the shares' progress. The high-cost short-term loan book generated £4.3m of revenue in 2021, down from £8.1m in 2020, and that decline was a key reason for 2021's fall in stated pre-tax profits to £7.9m from £15.6m.There could be further hits to the profit and loss account. But the high-cost short-term loan book has shrunk to £3.1m and H&T has already booked a £2.1m provision to prepare itself for the regulator's findings and likely demands for compensation for customers. If that proves sufficient, the uncertainty could lift and investors will be able to assess the merits of the core pawnbroking and retail businesses.H&T key factsMarket value: £122mTurnover (Dec 2022 estimate): £151mPre-tax profits (Dec 2022 est): £15.8mYield (Dec 2022 est): 4.5pcMost recent year's dividend: 12pNet debt (Dec 2021): £1mReturn on capital (Dec 2021): 6.7pcCash conversion ratio (Dec 2021): n/ap/e ratio (Dec 2022 est): 9.8At a time of sticky inflation and pressure on households' cash flows, these operations could see increased demand, even after 2021's 39pc increase in the pledge book to £67m and a 22pc gain in retail sales, via both the physical estate and the website.Management's decision to raise the full-year dividend to 12p a share from 8.5p speaks of confidence in both a regulatory resolution and underlying trading. A forecast dividend yield of 4.5pc and a price-to-earnings ratio of less than 10, based on consensus' analysts forecasts, both suggest that the shares are decent value.Better still, net shareholders' funds of £137m compare with a market value of £122m, so the shares trade at a discount to net asset, or book, value. Even if we strip out £20m of goodwill and intangible assets, the shares trade roughly in line with tangible book value and that will hopefully provide protection for the share price.Patience may yet pay off at H&T. Hold.Questor says: HoldTicker: HATShare price at close: 313p
H&t share price data is direct from the London Stock Exchange
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