Pawnbroker Albermarle & Bond said it plans to open new stores and add new services after it reported a 42% rise in full-year profit, lifted by a new gold purchasing service and strong sales.
The Bristol-based company, which also sells jewellery and financial services at its 114 UK stores, said pretax profit for the year to June 30 rose to £14.6m, compared to £10.3m a year earlier.
“The increase in the price of gold, successful introduction of gold purchasing, positive retail sales and actions taken to support the financial services division all contributed to the performance for the year,” said Albermarle & Bond chairman, Greville Nicholls.
He added:“We are now actively pursuing opportunities to add new stores and at the same time we continue to focus on improving customer service, extending our range of services and exploring new routes to market. Trading has continued positively into the new financial year.”
Income from pawnbroking, which requires customers to secure their loans by depositing jewellery with the pawnbroker, rose 30% to £25.8m. Sales of new and second-hand jewellery increased 3% to £19.7m.
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