Arrow underlying profits fall due to rise in costs
Debt purchasing group Arrow Global saw underlying profits fall 5.4 per cent to £50.4m in the nine months ending in September, due to a 15.1 per cent rise in costs related to IFRS 16.
Despite this, the group’s cashflow increased 14.7 per cent to £174.4m, compared to £152m in 2018. Profits before tax increased 65.6 per cent to £42.4m.
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Lee Rochford, chief executive officer of the group, said: “Returns in the investment business remain attractive and collections and cash generation both increased strongly during what is traditionally a quieter quarter.”
He added that the Manchester-headquartered company was trading in line with end of year forecasts.
Arrow’s current aim is to develop its fund management capabilities and it said that it had made good progress with the formation of AGG Capital Management.
Rochford said: “Our clear objective is to build a fund management business which will drive substantial growth in AMS revenues and see the Group evolve to become a more capital light, high margin business with less leverage.”
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In October unlisted Italian bank Gruppo Cassa Centrale said it had agreed to sell to Arrow €345m in bad loans to lower their share over total lending below seven per cent by 2021.
Shares in the group were down 4.2 per cent this morning.
Main image credit: Getty