HARD-UP Brits using valuables to raise cash have helped profits at pawnbroker Ramsdens to climb by over 20 per cent.
The 165-store group said higher living costs led to more consumers looking for short-term credit, while trading in watches and jewellery was also up.
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The firm also benefited from increasing gold prices as people looked for security against the background of continuing global turmoil.
Sales of precious metals at its stores soared by nearly 50 per cent, despite the gold price rise.
Pre-tax profits rose to £10.1million in the year to the end of September, up from £8.3million the year before.
Ramsdens’ pawnbroking service, which allows consumers to borrow against a piece of jewellery or a watch, grew by 11 per cent.
And overall jewellery sales surged by nearly a quarter as the business benefited from higher consumer demand for both new and second-hand items.
The average loan it handed out increased to £325, up from £303 the previous year. Higher loans mean higher profits.
But holidaymakers acting differently because of the cost-of-living crisis hit its foreign currency division.
Income from currency grew by eight per cent year-on-year, but the firm reported a disappointing summer as customers were taking less cash on holiday with them.
It also said the amount of currency bought back by holidaymakers fell, “indicating they are keeping their leftover FX cash for another trip or have spent their cash while abroad”.
Boss Peter Kenyon said: “We are very conscious of the tough economic conditions and the cost pressures of energy pricing, increased interest rates, and paying the real living wage.”
He said the firm’s long-term strategy “will deliver long-term benefits for all stakeholders”.
Ramsdens has recently opened new stores in Cardiff, Poole and Blackburn.
EYEBROW RAISER IS SO SUPER
DRUGS and beauty chain Superdrug said Christmas trading was strong as party-goers turned to in-store beauty treatments and piercings.
Sales grew by nine per cent over the four weeks to the end of December with like-for-like growth of seven per cent during festive trading.
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Piercings saw 54 per cent growth compared with the same month in 2022, but that was after the business expanded its pop-in service to about 500 shops.
The in-store Beauty Studio operation, which also offers services such as eyebrow threading, saw 20 per cent growth over the year.
Superdrug has more than 800 stores across the country, with 200 in-store pharmacies.
The chain’s Studio London brand helped to drive a 20 per cent sales rise in cosmetics.
Boss Peter Macnab said: “We are committed to offering the very best in accessible health and beauty.”
SHARES
BARCLAYS down 0.56 at 144.98
BP down 1.15 at 453.00
CENTRICA down 0.20 at 149.80
HSBC down 13.70 at 596.40
LLOYDS down 1.16 at 43.83
MARKS & SPENCER down 2.00 at 260.00
NATWEST down 0.20 at 212.20
ROYAL MAIL up 2.50 at 251.80
SAINSBURY’S up 1.00 at 287.80
SHELL down 1.00 at 2,460.00
TESCO up 3.70 at 300.60
POD FIRM BOOMING
PODCAST maker AudioBoom boosted business with a “sharp increase” in the number of ads it puts in each episode.
The move helped it return to positive cash flow in the last three months of the year, with revenue up 37 per cent to £15million.
However, average global monthly downloads fell by a million to 110million.
The business makes podcasts such as The Broski Report and F1: Beyond the Grid.
UK’S £7BN JACKTOT
SCOTCH whisky drammed up valuable business for Britain by contributing £7.1billion to the economy in 2022.
The figure was up 29 per cent compared to 2018, the Scotch Whisky Association reported.
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The industry is worth £5.3billion to Scotland alone and amounted to more than three quarters of Scotland’s food and drink exports.
And the tipple made up a quarter of the UK’s food and drink exports.
Scotch Whisky Association boss Mark Kent said the industry had stayed resilient as it faced a “turbulent” five years of retaliatory tariffs in the US, as well as the pandemic.
Scotch whisky supports 66,000 jobs across the UK, with 41,000 in Scotland.
In the past decade 24,000 jobs have been created.
NEW FALL IN CREST OUTLOOK
HOUSEBUILDER Crest Nicholson has been forced to issue yet another profit warning after costs mounted over a delayed housing project and a legal bill for a 2021 fire at one of its sites.
It said it now expected profits to be about £41million for the year to October.
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It had originally said the figure would come in far higher, at £75million.
That was lowered to £50million last August after a slowdown in the housing market, partly caused by higher mortgage rates.
Crest Nicholson then reduced the figure further in November to £45million.
It said the delayed completion of a regeneration scheme in Farnham, Surrey, would cost more than the £11million it had first estimated.
It is also expecting a £13million hit over the legal claim relating to the 2021 fire.
But it said the housing market outlook was brighter after cuts in mortgage deals.
AROUND 400 workers at the Alexander Dennis bus manufacturing plant in Falkirk have began two more weeks of strikes.
The coach builders and spray painters also had a fortnight-long walkout in December over pay at the UK’s largest bus maker.
HIRER IS FIRING IN JOB WOE
RECRUITER PageGroup has axed almost 300 staff as profits fell by 8.9 per cent in the last three months of 2023.
It shed 224 of its fee-earning roles and 57 back office jobs.
The business’s gross profits fell to £237.3million in the final quarter.
And it warned earnings for the year will be less than the earlier forecast of £120million to £125million.
The UK was its worst-performing region, with gross profits slumping by a fifth.
But conditions declined across Europe, said the firm.
Boss Nicholas Kirk said: “Activity levels are not all converting into gross profit due to lower levels of client and candidate confidence.”
Rivals Hays and Robert Walters have already warned of firms’ weaker confidence, hitting the UK jobs market.
