International Personal Finance Quarterly Profit Falls 27%

International Personal Finance Plc (IPF) said first-quarter pretax profit fell 27 percent because of higher costs and weaker exchange rates.

Profit before tax at IPF, which makes unsecured loans to low-income households in developing markets, declined to 6.1 million pounds ($9.7 million) from 8.3 million pounds in the year-earlier period, the company said in a statement today. First-quarter pretax revenue fell to 159.7 million pounds from 160.4 million pounds.

“We have made an encouraging start to the year and are on track to perform well in 2012,” Chief Executive Officer Gerard Ryan said in the statement. “The result for the quarter includes the impact of higher rebate costs and weaker foreign exchange rates, which are in line with previous guidance.”

The shares rose 4 percent to 245.5 pence at 8:46 a.m. in London, giving the company a market value of 631 million pounds.

IPF, based in Leeds, northern England, was spun off from Provident Financial Plc (PFG), the U.K.’s largest subprime lender, in July 2007.

To contact the reporter on this story: Ambereen Choudhury in London at achoudhury@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Edward Evans at eevans3@bloomberg.net