28 Nov 2018 07:00
28 November 2018
Morses Club PLC
Establishment of Share Incentive Plan
and
Issue of Equity
Morses Club PLC (the "Company"), the UK's second largest home collected credit lender, announces that as part of the Company's commitment to incentivising all eligible employees of the Company, it has created a new Share Incentive Plan (the "SIP"). In the first award under the SIP, a total of 292,122 ordinary shares of 1 pence each ("Ordinary Shares") have been awarded to the Company's eligible employees at no cost to them. A total of 428 eligible employees invited to participate in the SIP have applied under the SIP and have each been granted free Ordinary Shares representing approximately 3.25% of their salary based on a price of 141.4 pence per Ordinary Share (the average closing share price on 21, 22, and 23 November). The free shares are held in trust for a minimum holding period of three years and are subject to a three year forfeiture period during which employees who participated in the SIP will lose their award if they resign or are dismissed from their employment.
The SIP award has been satisfied by the issue of 292,122 new Ordinary Shares, such shares representing 0.23% of the current issued ordinary share capital of the Company. Application has been made to the London Stock Exchange for the 292,122 new Ordinary Shares to be admitted to trading on AIM ("Admission") and it is expected that Admission will become effective and trading will commence at 8.00 a.m. on 4 December 2018.
After Admission, the total number of Ordinary Shares in issue will be 129,792,122 and the total number of voting rights will therefore be 129,792,122. The Company does not hold any Ordinary Shares in treasury. This figure 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 share capital of the Company under the FCA's Disclosure and Transparency Rules.
The number of Ordinary Shares issued under the SIP will, when added to the number of Ordinary Shares issued or to be issued under the Company's other employee share incentive arrangements in the previous ten years, be limited to 10% of the issued share capital of the Company.
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