Archived article
Please note that tax, investment, pension and ISA rules can change and the information and any views contained in this article may now be inaccurate.
Provident Financial has revealed it spent £23.6m defending against a hostile takeover bid from Non-Standard Finance back in February.
The firm reported a pre-tax profit before bid defence costs of £61.2m in the six months to 30 June, up 76.9% on the same period the previous year.
However group revenue was down, falling to £523.9m from £572.5m the previous year.
Chief executive officer Malcolm Le May said: 'Despite the distraction of the unsolicited bid from February to June this year, I am pleased with the group's operational and financial performance during the first half of the year.
'We have delivered strong new business volumes whilst maintaining stable delinquency trends and our first half results are in line with our internal plans.
'We are pleased to announce reinstatement of an interim dividend of 9.0p per share, which reflects our confidence in the ongoing recovery of the group.'