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RNS Number : 2798Y
Morses Club PLC
02 March 2017
2 March 2017
Morses Club PLC
Trading update and notice of preliminary results
Morses Club PLC ("the Company"), the UK's second largest home
collected credit lender, provides the following trading update for
the 52-week period to 25 February 2017.
Trading performance for the period has continued to show strong
growth and is in line with the Board's expectations. Total credit
issued increased by 18% to GBP144m compared with the prior year,
with customer numbers increasing by 9% to 216,000 as at 25 February
2017. This increase reflects the success of new territory builds
and acquisitions in our core home collect credit ("HCC")
market.
The Company's gross loan book is up over 4% compared with 27
February 2016. The proportion of loans attributable to highest tier
customers has increased by 10% against last year, demonstrating the
Company's focus on higher quality lending.
We expect to report impairments comfortably in line with our
guidance range(1) .
The Company acquired Shelby Finance Ltd. a provider of online
instalment loans, in January 2017, and is finalising plans for the
launch of its new online instalment lending product. This marks the
next step in the Company's strategy of developing digital products
to expand its core offering and target a wider range of customers
across the UK non-standard credit market.
Paul Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Morses Club, said:
"We are pleased with our continued growth and performance for
the year, with progress achieved against all of our key
metrics.
"We have continued to invest in technology to support our
strategic plan to offer customers a broader range of products and
the ability to access credit more flexibly. On top of the
successful introduction of the Morses Club Card in April 2016, we
are finalising the launch of our new online instalment loan
product. We have invested to streamline processes, and reduce cost,
further demonstrating our commitment to develop technology to keep
us at the forefront of our core HCC market and broaden our offer to
the wider non-standard consumer finance sector.
"We have a number of developments planned for the coming year as
part of our expansion into consumer rewards, interactive and
mobility-based customer communications channels, social media and
banking and card-related services.
"We remain confident in our outlook, with a strong pipeline of
territory builds for our growth plan, and continue to see
attractive acquisition opportunities in the HCC and the wider
non-standard finance markets."
Notes:
1 The Company's guidance range for impairments is 22 - 27%.
Notice of Preliminary Results
Morses Club will be announcing its preliminary results for the
12-month period ended 25 February 2017 on Thursday, 27 April
2017.
There will be an analyst presentation to discuss the results at
09:30am on 27 April 2017 at Numis Securities, 10 Paternoster
Square, London, EC4M 7LT. Those analysts wishing to attend are
asked to contact Kimberley Taylor at Camarco on +44 (0)20 3757 4999
or at kimberley.taylor@camarco.co.uk.
For further information
Morses Club PLC Tel: +44 (0)
Paul Smith, Chief Executive Officer 330 045 0719
Andy Thomson, Chief Financial
Officer
Numis Securities Limited (Nomad Tel: +44 (0)
and Joint Broker) 20 7260 1000
Andrew Holloway
Charlie Farquhar
Paul Gillam
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Joint Tel: +44 (0)
Broker) 20 7886 2500
Richard Gray
Charles Leigh Pemberton
Camarco Tel: +44 (0)
Ed Gascoigne-Pees 20 3757 4984
Jennifer Renwick
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 GBP161
billion to GBP244 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.
This information is provided by RNS
The company news service from the London Stock Exchange
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