TIDMMCL
RNS Number : 2737L
Morses Club PLC
05 September 2019
5 September 2019
Morses Club PLC
Trading update
Morses Club PLC ("Morses Club" or the "Company"), the UK's
second largest home collected credit lender, provides the following
trading update for the 27-week period to 31 August 2019. (Please
note that the prior year comparison is a 26-week period).
The Company has performed well in the period with strong
progress on the development of our product diversification
strategy. Trading conditions in our core HCC market remain in line
with the Board's expectations, with total credit issued remaining
broadly at the same level when compared to H1 2019 at GBP85.5m (H1
2019: GBP85.7m). Cash collections were up 5% compared to H1 2019
(H1 2019: 11.9%), and impairments expected to remain within the
Company's IFRS 9 guidance range. Consistent with previous years,
our results are expected to be fairly evenly split between each
half, with the usual slight seasonal uplift in H2.
Total customer numbers of 224,000 at 31 August 2019 have
remained largely stable (H1 2019: 229,000), with the gross loan
book also remaining stable with 0.2% growth (H1 2019: 6.1%
growth).
Morses Club also continues to make good progress with the
broadening of its digital product offering. Gary Marshall, the
recently appointed COO of Shelby Finance Limited, is focused on the
successful integration of CURO Transatlantic Limited and U Holdings
Limited as part of the development of the digital product strategy
enabling the Group to offer banking style services with various
credit services attached. The introduction of a wider range of
digital products will enable Morses Club to capture a larger share
of the non-standard credit market and retain more of the customer
base as it evolves in parallel with HCC.
Morses Club was delighted to welcome Andrew Hayward to the
Company as CFO in July. Andrew brings significant technological and
digital payments expertise which will be invaluable as Morses Club
continues to expand its product offering.
Paul Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Morses Club, said:
"We are pleased by the performance of the business over the
period. Morses Club continues to make strong progress on the
development of our product diversification strategy, tailored for
our customers across the non-standard credit market. We are fully
engaged with ensuring that we effectively consolidate our new
acquisitions into the Group in line with our principles of
financial prudence and excellent customer service. We are fully
committed to developing a wider portfolio of products in line with
the changing credit needs of our customers and the wider
market.
"We successfully launched our new customer portal earlier in the
year, and now have c. 27k customers in Morses Club who can access
their account details digitally, whilst still having the
face-to-face service from an agent we have always provided.
"The Company is trading in line with expectations and we look
forward to the second half of the year with confidence."
Notice of Interim Results
Morses Club will be announcing its interim results for the
27-week period ended 31 August 2019 on Thursday 10 October
2019.
This announcement constitutes inside information for the
purposes of article 7 of the Market Abuse Regulation (EU) No
596/2014.
For further information
Morses Club PLC Tel: +44 (0) 330
Paul Smith, Chief Executive Officer 045 0719
Andrew Hayward, Chief Financial Officer
Panmure Gordon (UK) Limited (Nomad and Joint Tel: +44 (0) 20
Broker) 7886 2500
Fabien Holler / Atholl Tweedie (Corporate
Finance)
Erik Anderson (Corporate Broking)
finnCap Ltd Tel: +44 (0) 20
Jonny Franklin-Adams / Anthony Adams (Corporate 7220 0500
Finance)
Tim Redfern / Richard Chambers (Corporate
Broking)
Camarco Tel: +44 (0) 20
Ed Gascoigne-Pees / Jennifer Renwick / Kimberley 3757 4984
Taylor
Notes to Editors
About Morses Club
Morses Club is the second largest UK Home Collected Credit (HCC)
lender with 224,000 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
above(1) .
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 consumers(2) .
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
GBP161 billion to GBP216 billion in February 2019(3) .
(1 Independent Customer Satisfaction Survey conducted by Mustard
2 FCA High Cost Credit Review Technical Annex 1: CRA data analysis
of UK personal debt - July 2017 3 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 million(2) people using the services of UK HCC
lenders.
(2 High Cost Credit Review ANNEX 1) (- July 2017)
This information is provided by RNS, the news service of the
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END
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