25 Jun 2019 07:00
25 June 2019
Morses Club PLC
AGM STATEMENT
Significant progress with digital product diversification strategy
At the Annual General Meeting to be held in Leeds today, Paul Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Morses Club, will make the following trading statement covering the period from 24 February 2019 to 24 June 2019:
"We have had a busy first four months of the current financial year, making significant progress with our digital product diversification strategy, enabling customers to access credit flexibly. As we announced yesterday, through our fully owned subsidiary Shelby Finance Ltd we have acquired U Holdings Limited (trading as U Account), a leading digital current account provider offering an alternative to traditional banking by providing a fully functional agency banking service. In February we announced the acquisition of the business and certain assets of CURO Transatlantic Limited ("CURO"), a provider of online loans in the non-standard credit market.
"These complementary acquisitions have increased our customer base by over 25% and will accelerate our ability to offer a wider range of lending products to suit the financial needs of the non-standard credit market. We are working hard to ensure that these businesses are fully aligned with Morses Club's core ethos of high-quality lending and prudent financial stewardship, and that we deliver excellent customer service. As previously announced, management anticipate both these businesses should be earnings accretive by FY21.
"In our core HCC market we continue to focus on high quality lending and differentiating our offering by delivering best in class customer experience. In line with this, in March we successfully launched our customer portal, which has reached 25,000 active users within its first three months and has received very positive customer feedback.
"We are delighted to welcome our newly appointed CFO, Andy Hayward, to Morses Club. He brings with him a wealth of experience in the mobile technology and digital payments space and will play an important role as we continue to deliver our strategic plans.
"Despite challenging conditions year to date in our core HCC market, current trading remains in line with expectations. Customer numbers are stable, but credit issued is slightly down year-on-year as customers are borrowing less frequently. We are confident in our strategy of using technology to diversify and expand our product offering to serve our customers' needs."
The results of the AGM will be announced following the conclusion of the meeting later today.
Ends
For further information please contact:
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)Fabien Holler / Atholl Tweedie (Corporate Finance) Erik Anderson (Corporate Broking) | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7886 2500 |
finnCapJonny Franklin-Adams / Emily Watts / Anthony Adams (Corporate Finance)Tim Redfern / Richard Chambers (Corporate Broking) | Tel: +44 (0) 20 7220 0500 |
CamarcoEd 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 235,000 customers and over 1,900 agents across 95 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 97% 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 £216 billion in February 20193.
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 A5.2, Bank of England Money and Credit Bank stats February 2019
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