MCL.L Regulatory News (MCL)

 20 June 2017

Morses Club PLC

AGM STATEMENT

Encouraging start to the year

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 26 February 2017 to 19 June 2017:

"Trading performance over the period is encouraging and is in line with the Board's expectations. Our net loan book and customer numbers have continued to increase and impairments remain within our guidance range reflecting our focus on higher quality lending. Territory builds have contributed to our loan book growth and continue to represent an attractive opportunity for us.

"We successfully launched Dot Dot, our first online instalment loan product, in March, and customer applications are on track, complementing our core Home Collected Credit offering with digital products that can be accessed by a wider range of customers from across the UK non-standard credit market.

"In May, we received our full FCA authorisation and remain focused on delivering flexible products which match the needs of our customers, using technology to support our strategic plan of offering customers a broader range of products and first class customer service."

The results of the AGM will be announced following the conclusion of the meeting later today.

Ends

For further information

Notes to Editors

About Morses Club

Morses Club is the second largest UK Home Collected Credit lender with 216,000 customers and 1,826 agents (as at 25 February 2017) across 98 locations throughout the UK.

The Company offers a range of loan products to its customers through its extensive agent network. The majority of the Company's borrowers are repeat customers and the Company enjoys consistently high customer satisfaction scores of 95 per cent or above.

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.

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 consumers.

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. 

Since 2009, unsecured personal lending has grown from £161 billion to £244 billion in 2015.

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 via self-employed agents 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 3 million people using the services of UK HCC lenders, of which 1.8 million people borrow regularly.