The conservative up front provisioning for loans creates this issue of NPAT drag if they pull hard on the lending lever, which they have in big way.
While it makes me a little nervous the guidance is back end loaded, is is very plausible given the reduced second half lending growth guided for, essentially the first half was "planting" and the second is "harvesting" of the loan book.
Growth in head count related to US PDL market is also a drag on costs and metrics this half, but again is good for the long term given CCP's track record of training and improving efficiency of collectors.
I think this result is another example of the company's aversion to the short term and as someone who has held the shares for a few years is a good thing.
What I really want is for the AUS PDL market to normalise and given the cost of living pressures in the pipeline, I think that could occur later this year.
(20min delay)