GLI Finance Annual Loss Narrows As It Considers Future Strategy

26th Mar 2018 12:57

LONDON (Alliance News) - GLI Finance Ltd on Monday reported a narrowed loss but a drop in revenue on the back of the sale of its SQN Secured Income Fund PLC shares.

Total revenue in 2017 slipped to GBP11.6 million, 3% down year-on-year, but GLI's pretax loss narrowed slightly to GBP15.2 million from GBP16.4 million in 2016.

Adjusted for the sale of these SQN shares in March, which removed GLI's dividend bonus, revenue was up 18% year-on-year.

Revenue from GLI's core Sancus BMS business decreased to GBP10.3 million from GBP11.4 million, though it rose 11% excluding SQN dividends, while net operating profit rose to GBP1.6 million from GBP1.2 million.

Sancus is GLI's property backed and small to medium enterprise business, while its other business, FinTech Ventures, is its investments in 11 small to medium enterprise focused lending platforms.

Revenue in the latter operations doubled to GBP1.3 million from GBP628,000, with its net operating loss narrowing to GBP380,000 from GBP2.2 million. During the first half, GBP12.6 million of write downs were booked, though this stabilised in the second half of 2017. The majority of GLI's portfolio firms are expected to break-even in 2018, it said.

GLI said it has gone through a substantial period of change in the past two years, and added it is in a "solid" position with the potential for "strong" risk-adjusted performance. However, GLI conceded it has two businesses which might not normally be grouped together, and it will thus continue to assess how their value can be maximised going ahead.

Chief Executive Andy Whelan said: "The year saw a lot of change as I continued the work I started on my appointment in December 2015. Two years into my role I can see real progress.

"Sancus BMS is the key operating unit within the group and is starting to deliver on its potential. The businesses that comprise Sancus BMS are good businesses, well run, with the ability to deliver healthy returns. We are delighted to have secured the credit facility from HIT which was announced in January 2018 which will help drive further growth."

He added: "We have taken some tough decisions on the FinTech Ventures portfolio and made substantial write-downs in the first half of the year. I am delighted that no further net write-down was required at the end of the year. With most of the restructuring that is required now complete we will seek to maximise the value of the portfolio going forward."

Shares were up 3.3% on Monday at a price of 8.53 pence each.

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