MCL.L Regulatory News (MCL)

30 March 2017

Morses Club PLC

Launch of online brand Dot Dot Loans

Morses Club PLC ("the Company"), the UK's second largest home collected credit ("HCC") lender, is pleased to announce the launch of Dot Dot Loans, its first online instalment loans product.

The launch follows the purchase of Shelby Finance Ltd ("Shelby Finance") in January 2017, which is fully authorised by the FCA to provide online instalment loans and operates as a subsidiary of Morses Club PLC.

The launch of this new online instalment product, Dot Dot Loans, is the next step in the Company's strategy of developing digital products to complement its home collected credit offering and target a wider range of customers across the UK non-standard credit market.

The introduction of Dot Dot Loans is not expected to have a material impact on profit in the current financial year.

Paul Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Morses Club, commented:

"We are delighted to announce the launch of Dot Dot Loans following the successful acquisition of Shelby Finance earlier in the year. This is an important step in the evolution of our business as we use technology to offer customers a broader range of products, supplementing our core home collected credit offering."

"The product is targeted at the c. 9 million additional customers who access the wider non-standard credit market. Transparent pricing with flexibility built-in for customers will be key features."

"We have launched the product to market in a test phase, with a strong commitment to understanding customer requirements in this area. The brand was developed based on feedback from target customers and the website is mobile responsive, providing a simple and straightforward approach to offering credit. We will continue to assess the market opportunity during the test phase."

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 approximately 1,800 agents across 100 locations throughout the UK.

The Company offers a range of loan products to its customers through its extensive agent network. A significant 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 12 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 1.3 million people borrow regularly.