Bad debts emerge at FlexiGroup

FlexiGroup, a provider of retail point-of-sale lease and rental finance for IT equipment and electrical appliances, reported a net profit after tax of $16.8 million on Monday, ten per cent higher than the pro forma NPAT for the corresponding period.

Assets financed for the period totalled $164 million, representing 18 per cent growth, with a 5.5 cents fully franked interim dividend declared.

The company stated funding remained stable with almost three quarters of a billion in committed facilities.

"As at 31 December 2007 FlexiGroup had $771 million of committed funding facilities including undrawn committed limits of $239 million," said chief executive officer John DeLano in the company's media release.

"For the full year, we expect that NPAT will be in the range of eight to twelve per cent ahead of last year's pro-forma result."

Bad debts had been forecast to grow in line with portfolio growth, but were "marginally above our internal forecasts for the first half of the 2008 financial year due to market conditions", the firm said in a presentation.

Actual bad debt expense was $10 million, 50 per cent higher than the pro-forma $6.7 million in 2006.

Management and directors hold 39 per cent of the group's shares, with none of the positions leveraged.

FlexiGroup offers lease and financial products in Australia and New Zealand, with brand names including Flexirent, FlexiOwn, EzyWay and Flexiway.