We Introduce You

I suppose the big news today is that Debtmatters Group PLC have announced their interim results and at first glance they look impressive.

Debtmatters, who only listed in June last year and in June this year bought Bolton based secured loans specialist Loanmakers, announced revenues for the period up 465% to £13.79million (last year £2.44million). It also reported a whopping rise in EBITDA with it up 531% to £4.83million (£765,000).

A comment in the results says “Strong performance across entire business and accordingly the Board anticipate that results for the full year to March 2007 will now be ahead of current market expectations”.

The market seems quite impressed with the shares up around 10% on morning trading.

The most significant growth has yet again come in the IVA market with Debtmatters saying “In September 2005 we processed 230 IVAs; by contrast, September 2006 was record month with 636 IVAs processed by us, a 275% increase on the previous year.”

Personally, I’d be wary of investing in a business whose main source of income is in the rather controversial area of Independent Voluntary Arrangements. However the signs, at least for the short to medium term, are that there will be no formal regulation, so the business model looks quite safe for some years to come.

Aside from cross-referral, I presume the purchase of Loamakers was also strategic in that it means Debtmatters doesn’t have all its eggs in one basket.

Commenting on Loanmakers, the Chief Executive said “I am particularly pleased to report that Loanmakers has made an excellent start to its life under the Group’s ownership. Volumes of business are in line with expectations and we are pleased by the encouraging early signs of the levels of referrals between Loanmakers and Debtmatters”