H&T Group – up 74% in 11 months, mega £297m bid gives better value for the pawnbroker’s shares – take the 661p cash and reinvest immediately

14.05.2025

It was just under a year ago that I set my third Target Price of 480p for the shares of this pawnbroking, gold dealing and jewellery sales group, they were then just 380p.

If you read further you will see that the bid will show a magnificent 74% profit within eleven months.

Having followed its operations from its original Harvey & Thompson days up through its reinvention in 1992 as the H&T Group, I have always liked the business that has evolved over the years.

The largest firm of pawnbrokers in the UK is the H&T Group (LON:HAT).

Now just a day ahead of its 2024 AGM being held in the City, there has been some major news for the company’s shareholders.

The Business

H&T Pawnbrokers began serving communities in London in 1897.

Since then, it has expanded to become one of the oldest and leading pawnbrokers in the UK.

In May 2006 the company floated on AIM, since when it has accelerated its development by adding new products and services, expanding the store network and developing a complete online service.

Today the £133m market capitalised company provides a range of simple and accessible financial products tailored for a customer base who have limited access to, or are excluded from, the traditional banking and finance sector.

As part of its development, the group has diversified its product portfolio, which now includes pawnbroking, unsecured lending, jewellery retail, cheque cashing, Western Union money transfer and Foreign Exchange.

The company, which now has some 285 stores as well as a very good online service, operates through six segments: pawnbroking, gold purchasing, retail, pawnbroking scrap, personal loans and other services.

Its Pawnbroking side is engaged in providing secured loans against collateral (the pledge).

Its Retail segment is engaged in retail sales of gold and jewellery, and the retail sales are forfeited items from the pawnbroking pledge book or refurbished items from its gold purchasing operations.

The Gold Purchasing segment is engaged in buying jewellery directly from customers through its stores.

Its Pawnbroking scrap segment consists of gold scrap sales of its inventory assets other than those reported within gold purchasing.

Latest Results

On Tuesday 18th March the group announced that it enjoyed a record year in 2024, with pre-tax profits up 10% at £29.1m, taking its earnings up to 50.9p and paying a dividend of 18p per share.

Today’s Mega-News

This morning FirstCash has offered a final bid of 661p cash per share for H&T, made up 650p in cash and then with an added 11p per share dividend to be paid next month.

The group’s shares closed at 458p last night, so the bid shows quite a healthy 44% premium.

FirstCash has a long-standing strategy with existing pawn operations and a track record of successfully expanding its operations further in strategic US and Latin American markets, having opened or acquired 1,365 pawn stores since 2017.

The combination of FirstCash and H&T will create the largest publicly traded pawn platform in the US, Latin America and the UK.

But holders will not be participating in that future growth – they should now just take the cash and reinvest it immediately back into the market, there are so many cheap opportunities for reinvestment that should not be missed in the current market.

My View

Take the money and run – it has been a long haul, but a very profitable one for Master Investor subscribers who have taken on board the various features on the group over the years.

(Profile 06.07.22 @ 332.5p set a Target Price of 400p*)

(Profile 30.01.23 @ 429p set a Target Price of 500p*)

(Profile 12.06.24 @ 380p set a new Target Price of 470p*)