New Report from Apex Insight Analyses the UK Pawnbroking & High Street Loan Stores Market

A new report from Apex Insight, Pawnbrokers & High-Street Loan Stores: UK Market Profile and Forecast 2015, covers the market for traditional pawnbrokers, stores which focus on trading of second hand goods and those whose focus in high interest lending such as term loans, cheque cashing, money transfer and foreign currency exchange.

Apex Insight’s research shows that the uk pawnbroking market grew from 2009-13 to reach well over 2, 000 stores across the UK. The research also highlights a competitive industry, with the main companies striving for high street presence. The leading companies are:

• CNG Holdings, which operates both the Cheque Centres and Cash Generator high street chains as well as The Loan Store payday loans website, and which has recently closured some loss-making stores.
• Dollar Financial, which is based in the US, where it operates pawnbroking and lending stores, but now has a substantial share of its revenue from its UK operations, which are The Money Shop chain and the Payday UK and Payday Express loan brands.
• Cash Converters, an international pawnbroking franchise which started in Australia and moved to the UK in 1992.
• Albemarle and Bond which was recently acquired by Promethean Investments after the weakening market impacted its ability to service its debt.
• H&T, the UK’s largest traditional pawnbroking chain, which is listed on AIM.
• Ramsdens, the third-largest of the traditional pawnbroking chains, which was acquired by private equity firm, NorthEdge in 2014 and which has expanded both within and outside its base in the North-East.

In the last two years, the reversal in the gold price has led to a significant reduction in the levels of gold buying. Most analysts expect the price to fall further in 2015-2016, and our forecast assumes that gold buying decreases further as a result

High-interest lending has also come under pressure with most of the leading chains withdrawing from the area or reducing their focus on it.

Traditional pawnbroking activity appears set to continue to grow at a steady rate, with less regulatory risk.

We expect the market to continue to fall further in 2015 as store closures take effect, before returning to growth, but at a more modest rate than in the period leading up to 2013.

For further details about the report and a table of contents, please visit the product page: Pawnbrokers & High-Street Loan Stores: UK Market Profile and Forecast 2015.

About Apex Insight

Apex Insight is an independent provider of research and consulting services covering business and financial services markets in the UK and Europe. It publishes insightful market reports and carries out commercial due diligence and other bespoke consulting exercises to support managers, investors and advisers in making better business decisions.