Ann: Credit Corp Group H1 of 2023 Media Release, page-30

I have had keen interest in CCP's US footprint for a long time, and so the Press Release words, “US resourcing expanded significantly during the half including growth across all three US operational sites and offshore resourcing from the Philippines and Australia.” caught my attention. I have not been able to find anything about a third operation, but CCP seems to have two addresses in Utah, one in Draper, and the other in Sandy – both in what one could regard as the Salt Lake City conurbation. Maybe the second site in Utah is focused on Wallet Wizard, or on CCP's on-line facility generally.

I was keen to know how Wallet Wizard is progressing in the US, but with a buoyant PDL business taxing the human resources to collect, I suspect CCP is currently in no hurry to grow Wallet Wizard there. I'll drop that interest for now, and shift more focus on the US PDL-collections leg of the business.

If CCP sticks to its 50% dividend payout ratio, then the Dividend based on EPS guidance 133 - 143 cents suggests fill year dividend should be circa 70c, so the final dividend should be 70c less 23c, which is 47c.

I have not waded through the detail of the 1/02/2023 Announcements, but what I saw in the Press Announcement, plus skimming through the Presentation, especially the “guidance”, inclined me to be quite positive. FY23 should pan out as per the initial guidance, and the increased in investment in the Loan Book and US PDLs bodes well for FY24.

Going off at a tangent, one should not read too much into macro themes like mortgage stress without undertanding the demographic of CCP's target market. Part of that demographic are repeat borrowers with good repayments history. CCP's vast database of debt welches and debt payers gives it an edge in the unsecured-loan space. In my experience, the main difference between people who pay their debts and people who do not is attitudinal, not the circumstantial.