Albemarle & Bond has slashed its store opening programme after a sudden slowdown in consumers exchanging gold for cash and stagnating prices of the precious metal. The comments by the pawnbroker sent shares in Albemarle & Bond tumbling today, although the 234-store operator managed to scrape a rise in full-year profits. The group has stormed through the consumer downturn by reinvesting its profit growth in rapid store expansion, including dedicated cash-for-gold shops, but lower gold prices have hit its momentum. Albemarle & Bond will introduce just 5 new outlets this financial year after opening 25 in 2011-12. Its chief executive Barry Stevenson, who is a former Marks & Spencer director, said: “The expected downturn in the gold-buying market happened very quickly and has set a new level to which we have quickly adapted. We expect gold-buying to continue to be a significant profit contributor to the group albeit at much reduced levels to that achieved at the peak.� His comments were not entirely a surprise as the company warned on profits in June, and rival pawnbroker H&T followed suit in August. But shares in Albemarle & Bond tanked by 31.4p, or 10.6%, to 265.2p today. The group said its gross profits from gold-buying tumbled from 87% in the first half to just 18% in the final six months of the year. Its pre-tax profits rose by just £362,000 to £21.4 million over the year to June 30. Albemarle & Bond, which was founded in 1983 from a single shop in Bristol, said the price of gold had remained “broadly stable� over the last 12 months but this compared to compound growth of more than 20% over the previous three years. However, its core pawnbroking business remained buoyant and grew revenues by 10% to £34.8 million over the year, boosted by new stores. Albemarle & Bond also said today it had acquired Early Pay Day Loans, an online operator, for £1.2 million.

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