Thorn Group yesterday reported a 13 per cent increase in earnings for the year to March. The lending, leasing and rental business made a net profit of A$22 million on revenues of $157.6 million.Thorn's operations include the consumer rental businesses, Radio Rentals and Rentlo, the lending operation, Cashfirst, the commercial leasing business, Thorn Business Services, and the collection agent, National Credit Management.Thorn acquired NCM in March. It paid $32.5 million for the business, which produced $6.2 million of earnings before interest and tax last year.Thorn's chief executive, John Hughes, said 75 per cent of NCM's income came from service fees and 25 per cent from debt purchases.He said he planned to expand NCM's service offering by developing a range of credit management tools for small business customers.After adjusting for an investment allowance received in 2010, Thorn reported a 40 per cent increase in normalised earnings. Revenue rose 8.6 per cent and customer numbers increased by 10.5 per cent.The Cashfirst loan book doubled to 12 per cent. Cashfirst, which sells online, offers loans under $5000 to people who can't get personal finance from a bank. The average loan size is $2000 and the average term is two years.The company exited its investment in the online retailer Big Brown Box during the year.The group has close to 100,000 customers and recorded a 40 per cent take-up rate of new contracts at the completion of the established contract.