I agree Steve - those figures could have done with some...

I agree Steve - those figures could have done with some explanation. I do think that your reasoning is probably the answer. The lending is amortised and because they have a habit of provisioning heavily I suspect it effectively cancels out the recognition of profit in that period. It does seem that the move into the American market was a fairly heavy misstep. It seems that they should have stuck their toe in the water first for a while before trying to take on the market. I would imagine that the technology, collection methodology and the modelling which applies well here does not work as well over there. Just the mention of using less litigation says things are quite different to me. That massive step up in the lending side of the business also shows how difficult they see the PDL purchasing will be for the next couple of years.