S & U Regulatory News (SUS)

8 August 2019

S&U plc

("S&U" or "the Group")

TRADING UPDATE AND NOTICE OF RESULTS

S&U PLC, the motor finance and property bridging specialist, today issues a trading update for the period from its AGM statement of the 23rd May to the 31st July 2019. It will announce half year results on the 24th September 2019.

Trading

Both our motor finance, Advantage Finance, and our property bridging, Aspen, companies continue to trade well and in line with our expectations. In contrast with the current low levels of consumer confidence in the UK, demand for Advantage's motor finance is healthy and transactions are ahead of last year. Indeed, despite a recent downturn in the new car market, the used car market remains robust and is likely to continue to do so, even assuming a "no-deal" Brexit.

Whilst activity in the housing market remains subdued, valuations continue to be steady and profitable growth at Aspen continues, albeit at a slightly slower pace than anticipated.

Advantage Finance

During the period, the pace of growth in both applications and transactions continue to accelerate . Advantage now receives over 110,000 applications per month and new transactions are ahead of last year. Customer numbers now stand at a record 62,000, up 7% on last year.

Following the reported tightening of underwriting last year, collections for the half year are up by 7% on the same period last year, and early repayment indicators on new business continue to show improvement.

In a competitive and evolving market, Advantage's relationships with its introducer partners continue to grow and deepen and recent reward and IT platform changes are consolidating this.

Aspen

The property bridging market depends principally on values and activity within the housing market. Whilst the former has been firm, the latter has slowed, partly due to uncertainty around Brexit and around Government stability. Aspen therefore continues to gradually build its bridging book and net amounts receivable at half year stand at over £24m (2018: £16.3m).

Recent improvements to Aspen's loan products, a wider product range and closer alignment of its IT platform with its large introducers are expected to help continue increasing our bridging receivables during H2.

Funding

At the period end Group borrowing stood at just over £125m, well within our medium-term facilities of £160m.

Commenting on the Group's trading and outlook, Anthony Coombs, S&U chairman, said:

" Trading in the first half of the year reflects continued and consistent growth in profitability which has been the S&U hallmark over the past 10 years. Transaction volumes and quality improvement, particularly in our motor finance business, are expected to be reflected in the pace of profits growth over the full year."

For further information, please contact:

S&U plc www.suplc.co.uk 

Anthony Coombs, Chairman 0121 705 7777

Newgate Communications

Bob Huxford, Tom Carnegie, Megan Kovach 020 7653 9848

Peel Hunt

Adrian Trimmings, Andrew Buchanan, Rishi Shah 020 7418 8900