Amigo Holdings brings back former CEO Glen Crawford

(Sharecast News) - Guarantor loans provider Amigo Holdings said on Wednesday that former boss Glen Crawford will rejoin the company as chief executive officer with effect from 1 August.
Crawford was appointed CEO of the company in February 2016 but stepped down in April last year to undergo medical treatment.

During his time as CEO, he secured full Financial Conduct Authority authorisation for the business and was responsible for the IPO in July 2018. Amigo said he led the group "through a period of significant growth" and "developed and optimised its funding structures".

Chairman Roger Lovering said Crawford was "a natural choice" and brings experience and leadership to the company "at this challenging time".

Crawford said: "I remain confident that with Amigo's excellent team pulling together, we can successfully navigate through the challenges facing the business and get back to focussing on meeting the day to day needs of our present and future customers, who are otherwise excluded from obtaining credit."

Amigo has been in the spotlight recently amid a battle between its board and founder James Benamor, who began selling off his 61% stake in June after a failed attempt to oust the board and appoint his own candidates as CEO and chairman.

The company has also been hit by customer complains. Amigo abandoned its sale plans in June as it said a surge in customer complaints meant the cost of clearing a backlog of grievances would cost at least £35m. Later that month, it warned of a "material" hit to results following a big increase in complaints.

At 0940 BST, the shares were up 26% at 13.44p.

Broker Peel Hunt said Crawford knows the company intimately, has a mastery of its detail and had a strong following among certain fund managers.

"The big question is the extent to which he was responsible for the disasters that followed his departure and he has much to prove on this point. He owns 4.6% of the company and has skin in the game," it added.

"Richmond continues to sell down 1% of the company each day and it is now down to 47.7% and a structural solution for Amigo is quite possible although the previous offer, which was subsequently withdrawn, was for 20.7p only so even on this scenario the upside could be muted relative to where the stock historically traded. Amigo is likely to remain highly volatile until greater certainty emerges."

Richmond Group is the investment vehicle of James Benamor.