Former payday lender calls in administrators

Cheque Centre, the Edinburgh-based group that withdrew from the payday lending sector in 2014 following regulatory pressure, has gone into administration.

The firm once had hundreds of high street branches but last year closed its remaining outlets to focus on trading over the internet under the Square Today brand.

Joint administrators Anthony Collier and Tom Maclennan, partners at FRP Advisory, said the shift in business strategy left Cheque Centre with “a number of sizeable, historical contractual and lease liabilities… resulting in an ongoing drain on the company’s working capital”.

The firm had explored a range of restructuring options, but the administrators said “unsustainable pressure” had been placed on its cash flow in the absence of a cash injection.

Collier added: “All 11 of the company’s staff are being retained whilst we assess the options for the business.”