Demand for consumer loans in eastern Europe and Mexico has remained unaffected by the credit crunch and helped lift first-half profits 39 per cent at International Personal Finance.

The company, which was demerged from Provident Financial last year and offers small loans, said credit quality remained stable and that pretax profits jumped to £22.1m ($44m, €28m) on a pro forma basis in the six months ended June 30 against £12.3m last time.