25 Jul 2019 14:00
25 July 2019
Morses Club PLC
Issue of Equity
Morses Club PLC ("Morses Club", or the "Company"), the UK's second largest home collected credit lender, announces the issue and allotment of 1,157,969 new ordinary shares of £0.01 each in the Company (the "New Ordinary Shares") pursuant to the vesting of awards under the Company's Deferred Share Bonus Scheme. The New Ordinary Shares will be held in a newly established employee benefit trust.
Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the 1,157,969 New Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission"). It is expected that Admission will occur at 8.00 a.m. on 30 July 2019. The New Ordinary Shares will rank pari passu with the existing ordinary shares in the Company.
Following Admission, the Company's enlarged issued ordinary share capital and total number of voting rights will be 130,950,091 ordinary shares. The Company does not hold any shares in treasury.
The above figure of 130,950,091 may be used by shareholders as the denominator for the calculations by which they will determine if they are required to notify their interest in, or a change to their interest in the Company under the FCA's Disclosure Guidance and Transparency Rules.
For further information
Morses Club PLC Paul Smith, Chief Executive OfficerAndrew Hayward, 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 / 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