Full year progress at Albemarle & Bond

Pawnbroker Albemarle & Bond posted a 5% increase in annual pre-tax profit and a 24% rise in revenue as gold prices rocketed.Pre-tax profit rose to £21.0m for the 12 months ended 30 June 2011 compared to £20m the year before. Revenue increased to £101.9m from £82m previously. Chief executive Barry Stevenson said he believed it was a good set of results in a period of transition. The group, which is undergoing a new store opening programme, said it has experienced an encouraging start to the new financial year.Pledge book grew by 21% and gross profit from pawnbroking rose to £31.5m from £28.2m. Gross profit from gold buying rose 27% to £14.6m. Other Financial Services revenue rose 16%."Exceptional growth in the pledge book year-on-year has also aided these results, although this will start to normalise as we come up against tough comparators from last year," Stevenson added.A dividend of 12.50p has been offered, up from 11.75p the year before.CJ