Morses Club hikes interim dividend following solid growth in first half

(Sharecast News) - Door-to-door lender Morses Club hiked its interim dividend 18.2% on Thursday thanks to a solid growth in profits throughout the first half of its trading year.Morses upped its interim dividend to 2.6p after statutory revenues jumped 6% to £57.5m in the six months to 25 August and pre-tax profits grew 20% to £10.5m.On a like-for-like, pro forma basis, revenues improved by 11.9%.Morses' net loan book hit £68.0m at the midway point of its fiscal year - an 8.4% boost from a year earlier.Bad debts rose to 21.9% from 21.5%, while customer slipped to 230,000 from 233,000.Chief executive Paul Smith, said: "The success of last year's territory builds has been demonstrated in the first half of this financial year."We expect to benefit from further consolidation as regulatory changes force smaller players out of the market, along with the opportunity to broaden our customer base as we offer customers a greater choice of products to suit their needs going forward."As of 1240 BST, Morses shares had slipped 0.61% to 140.64p.