One Reason Why Tesco Got Into Gold Buying

A noted British listed pawnbroker has reported record earnings, which are largely due to gold pawnbroking and buying.

H&T Group has said its profits will be higher than City expectations after a record-breaking year for its pawnbroking business.

Profits for 2010 should exceed the upper end of market expectations of £26 million after consumers increasingly turned to its H&T pawnbroking and Gold Bar jewellery buying outlets.

Commercial director Steve Fenerty admitted that the economic downturn had raised the profile of the business but said the growth was mainly down to opening new stores and the rising gold price, which increased by a third over the year.

Mr Fenerty said: "The rising price of gold has helped people realise the value of some of their jewellery and has helped raise our profit margins. The market has been underserved for a very long time and we were expanding before the recession hit."...

Their growth was big enough to be noticed by a huge new competitor. Despite Tesco's entry, Mr. Fenetry said the department store will not pose a real competitive threat to H&T because the pawnbroker offers in-person service while Tesco's doing it postally.


We'll see...