GB : Orchard Funding Group PLC - 1H22 results in line with guidance

Orchard’s 1H22 results are in line with the guidance provided at the trading update on 09 March 2022. Lending of £38.2m was up 27% YoY while the average loan book increased by 21% to £33.5m resulting in PBT rising by 64% YoY to £1.0m. The strong performance is driven by lending into the direct insurance market which is now the group’s largest market. Normalised lending has resumed in the core markets, whilst continuing to grow in new markets as the UK has come out of lock-down. Orchard remains in a strong financial position with over £8.5m of unused borrowing facilities to take advantage of a recovery and has declared an unchanged interim DPS of 1p. Having previously adjusted our forecasts upwards for the faster rate of recovery than expectations, we leave our estimates unchanged and maintain our BUY rating with TP of 66p.