RE: Strong Buy31 Aug 2020 21:21
Broker Shore Capital noted that the balance sheet “remains in good shape with capital headroom having materially increased since the start of the year, while the funding and liquidity position also remains strong”.
Analysts noted that as a result of introducing more cautious economic assumptions into its IFRS 9 models, forward-looking impairments increased sharply resulting in an improvement in the overall coverage ratio for the group to 33.5% at the end of June 2020 from 28.3% at the end of December, saying “such coverage levels are significantly higher than found at mainstream lenders”.
With the shares have fallen by 57% in the year-to-date, versus a 20% fall in the FTSE All-Share Index, Shore Cap said they were trading at less than tangible net asset value, around four times forward earnings and a dividend yield of almost 13%, “despite the strength of the balance sheet and the scope for returns to increase to 20-25% over the medium-term”.
“We believe there remain significant opportunities for a well-funded and well-capitalised non-standard lender to grow in the aftermath of the Covid-crisis given a likely increase in the number of available customers along with a reduction in competition.”
The results, agreed broker Peel Hunt, were “generally positive, showing that the business is proving resilient and trading better than internal plans”.