15th Feb 2022 12:04
(Alliance News) - PCF Group PLC share price took a hit on Tuesday as it reported poor preliminary results for financial 2021.
Shares in the company are set to be suspended from trading again as it struggles with reporting deadlines.
The London-based specialist bank said new business for the financial year ended September 30 had dropped by 43% to GBP155 million from GBP272 million the previous year. All segments saw lower origination as PCF took a more "conservative and prudent" approach to managing new business volumes, it said.
PCF's share price fell by 19% to 8.50 pence each in London on Tuesday afternoon.
Volumes in its Business Finance Division and Azule were particularly low, as they were also hit by the pandemic and associated government financial support schemes.
PCF's gross loan book was reduced by 15% to GBP379 million at the year end, from GBP446 million at the end of its first half on March 31. However, despite the drop, when considered over the whole year, financial 2021's average loan book was "broadly stable" relative to the prior year.
The bank expects to make a pretax loss for the year, as previously announced, owing to remediation and investigative expenses related to their misreporting of financial information last year, as well as costs from enhancement activities.
Loan origination for the first quarter ended December 31 of financial 2022 was GBP19 million, down from GBP49 million the year before.
"In the second quarter to 31 March 2022, the group is experiencing strong approval levels and expects to double the first quarter origination level," PCF said.
PCF also said it would not be possible to publish audited financial results for financial 2021 before the deadline of March 31 due to "logistical reasons". This would mean trading of its shares will be suspended from April 1, until the results can be audited and completed.
PCF had resumed trading late last month, after almost eight months of suspension, following the identification of account errors and misstatements in its financial 2020 results. What initially had been first reported as a GBP3.9 million pretax profit for the year was actually revealed to be a pretax loss of GBP4.8 million when results were corrected.
However, PCF said expects to publish interim results for the first half to March 31, 2022 on time in order to facilitate a return to a normal timeline of reporting results.
Full-year results for financial 2021 are expected during the last week of May 2022.
By Elizabeth Winter; [email protected]
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