20th Apr 2016 11:01
LONDON (Alliance News) - Morses Club PLC, the doorstep lender with 200,000 customers in the UK, on Wednesday said it wants to float on AIM, the London Stock Exchange's market for smaller companies.
Originally a general drapery store in Swindon, Morses Club's history goes back more than 130 years, according to its website, and it merged with Shopacheck Financial Services Ltd in March 2015.
The business boasts more than 100 branches throughout the UK and works with 2,500 self-employed agents, who deliver cash loans to doors and visit customers at home to collect repayments. The business lends anything between GBP100 and 10 times that amount to its borrowers.
Morses Club, which said it expects to grow by expanding its existing operations and making acquisitions, did not specify how much capital it wants to raise on joining AIM.
According to accounts filed at Companies House in December, Morses' pretax profit grew by 30% to GBP4.3 million in the 53 weeks ended February 28, 2015. Revenue increased by 9.8% to GBP20.3 million that year, with Morses expecting further growth in the next.
The principal cash lent in the 53-week period increased to GBP32.7 million from GBP30.6 million, while collections including interest rose to GBP50.6 million from GBP46.6 million.
In September 2015, the accounts said, Morses entered into a GBP25.0 million revolving asset-based credit facility from Shawbrook Bank, which is part of FTSE 250 lender Shawbrook Group PLC, replacing a similar facility previously held by parent company Perpignon.
Numis Securities was identified as Morses' nominated adviser, leading the company through its life on AIM, and as joint corporate broker alongside Panmure Gordon.
By Samuel Agini; [email protected]; @samuelagini
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