Australian-owned pawnbroker and financial services group Cash Converters has upgraded its profit targets after a strong start to its financial year.

Following strong trading for the last four months it has revised its net profit target of $18m to $18.5m to between $20.5m and $21m.

The group has been helped by a strong performance in its UK arm. EBIT in its UK business for the 12 months to June 30 grew over 174% on last year to $2.7m and trading in the new financial year has continued to be strong.

In September former Barratts managing director David Patrick took over as chief executive of Cash Converters UK.

Cash Converters International managing director Peter Cumins said “It has been a very positive start to the year and we are well placed to continue to grow the business in the second half. The soft launch of our financial service products in the UK in October has been encouraging and we have a number of potential franchised store acquisitions in mind in Australia to continue the growth momentum.”