GDANSK (Reuters) -Poland’s debt collector Kruk reported a 26% drop in the first-quarter net profit to 251.6 million zlotys ($67.09 million) on Monday, as the group’s operating costs grew by 79 million zlotys from last year.
Legal costs rose by 45% year-on-year, which was caused primarily by the acceleration of case transfers to courts.
WHY IT’S IMPORTANT
Kruk, one of the largest companies in the receivables management industry in Europe, is aiming to double the size of its debt portfolio to 20 billion zlotys by 2029.
Kruk operates in Poland, Romania, Italy, Spain, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Germany and France.
In longer term, the group sees Great Britain and U.S. as potential new markets.
BY THE NUMBERS
Kruk’s first-quarter operating profit fell to 393.4 million zlotys from 418 million zlotys a year earlier.
Operating revenue for the same period increased 7% year-on-year to 802.2 million zlotys.
In the first quarter, expenditure on debt portfolios fell 32% on the year to 229 million zlotys.
KEY QUOTES
“The plan for this year remains valid and we anticipate approximately 2.5 billion zlotys of investments in all markets. We maintain good access to financing and, having solid foundations, we continue to implement our ambitious strategy. – said Piotr Krupa, CEO and president of KRUK, cited in a company statement.
CONTEXT
In January, Kruk adopted its strategy for 2025-2029 and dividend policy, under which it aims to pay dividends of at least 30% of consolidated net profit. The strategy assumes 15 billion zloty investments in debt portfolios.
($1 = 3.7500 zlotys)
(Reporting by Anna Banacka; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)
