Inter. Pers. Share News (IPF)

Lender IPF returned to the black in the first quarter as it added more customers and saw an improvement in economic conditions.The group, which provides small short-term loans to customers in eastern Europe and Mexico, said it made a good start to 2010 and reported a pre-tax profit of £2m in the first quarter of the year compared to a loss of £8.5m the year before. IPF said it issued 11% more credit year on year in the first quarter of 2010.Poland, Czech and Slovakia profit was up by 11% over prior year despite the adverse weather impact. "Growth in these markets has been good, with the improvement in economic conditions and tight management of credit quality enabling a progressive easing of credit controls," the group said. Hungary was close to break even.Mexico saw profit up by £3.1m as customer numbers grew by 17,000 to 541,000.Romania broke even in the first quarter and is on track for 2010 profit, IPF added.