Provident shares rally on rehiring of former agents

TROUBLED lender Provident Financial saw its shares rally after revealing it had hired back former agents to help restore its reputation on the doorstep.

Provident, which sells loans and collects debts door to door, suffered a disaster in the summer when it issued its second profit warning in three months. The company’s share price plunged by two-thirds in one day and its chief executive resigned after it admitted that a plan to move away from using self-employed, part-time agents had failed, resulting in plummeting debt collections.

Provident said yesterday it had hired 300 part-time staff, primarily from the ranks of its former self-employed agents, to “accelerate the reconnection with customers”.

Doorstep collections rose to 65pc in September from 57pc the month before. A year ago the rate was at 90pc.

Provident shares jumped 12.4pc to 887p. However, this is almost half the value they were trading at prior to the profit warning in August.