31 Jan 2019 07:00
31 January 2019
Morses Club PLC
Acquisition of Eccles Savings & Loans Limited
Morses Club PLC ("Morses Club" or the "Company"), the UK's second largest home collected credit lender, is pleased to announce the acquisition of the business and assets of Eccles Savings & Loans Limited ("Eccles Finance"), a home collected credit lender.
Eccles Finance is a family-run business, which has been active in home collected credit for over 50 years. Based in the North West of England, Eccles Finance has 3,000 customers and loan balances of c.£1.4m. Eccles Finance is authorised and regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority.
Paul Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Morses Club, commented:
"We are delighted to announce the acquisition of another well-established regional home credit business with a high-quality loan book that further expands Morses Club and strengthens our position in a competitive market. This acquisition is in line with our stated acquisition strategy and we intend to make further earnings accretive acquisitions as and when the opportunities arise."
For further information
Morses Club PLC Paul Smith, Chief Executive OfficerAndy Thomson, Chief Financial Officer | Tel: +44 (0) 330 045 0719 |
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Nomad and Joint Broker) Richard Gray / Fabien Holler / Atholl Tweedie (Corporate Finance) Charles Leigh-Pemberton (Corporate Broking) | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886 2500 |
finnCap Jonny Franklin-Adams / Emily Watts / Anthony Adams (Corporate Finance)Tim Redfern / Richard Chambers (Corporate Broking) | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7220 0500 |
Camarco Ed Gascoigne-Pees / Jennifer Renwick / Kimberley Taylor | Tel: +44 (0) 20 3757 4984 |
Notes to Editors
About Morses Club
Morses Club is the second largest UK Home Collected Credit (HCC) lender with 230,000 customers and 1,942 agents across 98 locations throughout the UK.
The Company offers a range of loan products to its customers through its extensive self-employed agent network. The majority of the Company's borrowers are repeat customers and the Company enjoys consistently high customer satisfaction with scores of 95% or above1.
The Company is using technology to broaden its offering and provide new products to ensure customers can access credit with the flexibility they require. In April 2016, its cashless lending product, the Morses Club Card, was introduced, enabling its customers to buy online as well as on the high street. Dot Dot Loans, the Company's first online instalment product, was launched in March 2017.
Morses Club successfully listed on AIM in May 2016.
About the UK non-standard credit market
The UK non-standard credit market, of which UK HCC is a subset, consists of both secured and unsecured lending and is estimated to comprise around 10 million consumers2.
Non-standard credit is the provision of secured and unsecured credit to consumers other than through mainstream lenders. Lenders providing non-standard credit principally lend on an unsecured basis and the market is characterised by high frequency borrowing.
Since February 2014, unsecured personal lending has grown from £161 billion to £209 billion in February 20183.
1 Independent Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted by Mustard2 FCA High Cost Credit Review Technical Annex 1: CRA data analysis of UK personal debt - July 20173 Source: Table J Bank of England Money & Credit Report February 2018
About UK Home Collected Credit
UK HCC is considered to be a specialised segment of the broader UK non-standard credit market. UK HCC loans are typically small, unsecured cash loans delivered directly to customers' homes. Repayments are collected in person during weekly follow-up visits to customers' homes.
UK HCC is considered to be stable and well-established, with approximately 1.6 million2 people using the services of UK HCC lenders.
2 High Cost Credit Review ANNEX 1 - July 2017