Door-step lenders IPF (International Personal Finance) saw its shares marked down 44% today. It released an RNS stating:
This morning, the Polish Ministry of Justice published a draft bill on its website aimed at strengthening anti-usury legislation in Poland. Amongst other things, it proposes further changes to the cap on non-interest costs that may be charged by lenders in connection with a consumer loan agreement that became effective in March this year.
It operates in Poland, and elsewhere. It is saying something when a company could be described as “userers”. I wrote a scathing attack on IPF early this year (https://goo.gl/jStZqd), saying:
they are prey to black swan events
Sure enough, here we are. It is not the first gap down that the company experienced, though. It is rather prone to them.
Shares reached an all-time high of 675p on 21 Oct 2013. They are now 161p.
I see that the program I wrote in Fortran never registered a 52w high after the peak.
So we have an important safety tip here: if a share gaps down 10%+, never buy it until it can make a 52w high.
Shares can keep on sliding for years.
Stay safe out there.
161p
