In the event that the customer fails to fulfill his financial obligation after the maturity date, the Islamic
pawnbroking institution may auction off the gold.
Despite the difficulties faced by the North-east firm, directors said it was well placed to capitalise on opportunities arising from the rationalisation of the
pawnbroking market.
But H&T faces competition from other potential bidders, including Albemarle's biggest shareholder EZ Corp, the US
pawnbroking giant, as well as New York vulture fund Apollo Global Management, according to The Sunday Times.
8226; H&T is the UK's leading
pawnbroking company with over 180 stores and 30 GoldBars throughout the UK.
The family-owned
pawnbroking business will use a "substantial multi-million pound" funding facility secured from HSBC Corporate Banking to support its growth.
They have 111 core
pawnbroking branches in the UK in addition to the "gold bars".
The company, which offers payday loans and gold-buying as well as traditional
pawnbroking, said that it expected its profits for this year to be "above the top end of current market expectations" of around pounds 20million.
Profits for 2010 should exceed the upper end of market expectations of pounds 26m after consumers increasingly turned to its H&T
pawnbroking and Gold Bar jewellery-buying outlets.
It also offers a range of financial services, including
pawnbroking and cheque cashing.
The interest I had in
pawnbroking actually came in 1991, when I read a story in the Evening Gazette.
Chairman Charles Nicolson said: "We have seen an increase in the number of customers across our core
pawnbroking business, driven in part by the tighter lending criteria required by mainstream lenders.
PAWNBROKING firm Ramsdens Financial says it has secured a substantial multimillion-pound funding facility from HSBC Corporate Banking which will enable it to grow turnover to pounds 50m, create 130 jobs and open its 100th store by the end of 2012.
