IPO costs hit £4m as Cabot prepares for flotation

The debt purchaser has today (November 3) published results for the three months to September 30, and while they show a pre-tax profit of £16.6m for the quarter, (up from £14.5m in the same quarter last year), they also show the expense of IPO preparations.

Cabot said its total operating expenses of £4.2m are primarily made up of IPO costs, followed by amounts related to company acquisition and restructuring.

The company confirmed last month its plans to go ahead with an IPO, which is expected to be completed in November.  The financials state that Cabot expects to raise gross primary proceeds of about £195m from the IPO, which will be used for general corporate purposes.

As for general performance in the third quarter, Cabot’s collections activity increased slightly to £26.7m, from £21.1m during the same period last year. Income generated from portfolio investments increased to £68.4m from £62.5m in 2016.

Cabot deployed £255m of capital during the 12 months to September 30 2017; of this 79 percent was deployed in the UK and the rest across Europe.

Of the £201m that Cabot spent in the UK, 63 percent was on paying portfolios, 34 percent on non-paying portfolios and the remainder was on non-financial services portfolios.

In August, Cabot agreed to acquire the debt collection agency Wescot, and Cabot’s results show Wescot’s performance for the nine months ending June 30 2017.

The results show that Wescot generated £223m in collections for this time frame, with a total revenue of £29.5m. Wescot’s EBITDA was also £6.5m for this period.