Morses on track to increase lending and profit
THE CHIEF executive of credit lender Morses Club said his firm was targeting considered growth rather than “quick fire” alternatives as his firm registered a substantial increase its customer numbers and credit lending.
The Birstall-based business, which carried out a successful IPO last year increased its total credit issued by 25 per cent to £82.2m compared to the same period last year as it makes further inroads into new territories.
Customer numbers increased substantially by 12 per cent to approximately 233,000 in the period to August 26 of this year.
In a trading update to the city Morses, the country’s second largest doorstep lender behind Bradford-based Provident Financial, said impairment during the period is expected to remain within the company’s target range.
A statement read: “Notwithstanding the up-front costs of the investment in territory builds and infrastructure during the first half of the year, overall, business performance is in line with expectations.
Paul Smith, chief executive of Morses Club, said: “We are delighted with all aspects of the progress of the business, reflecting the fact that we have capitalised on market conditions, whilst developing our strategy of product diversification. As the second largest lender in this market, we believe that our growth is based on a solid foundation of listening to our customers and adapting to their needs.
“Our depth of operational experience is central to our customer service model which consistently delivers customer satisfaction levels of 95 per cent or more.
“We continue to focus on a strong technology platform to underpin the core business, which also means that we can utilise this expertise across our strategic growth initiatives.
“Our aim is to build new product streams carefully over time, so that they have solid foundations, rather than quick-fire initiatives.”
Morses saw its gross loan book increase by 12 per cent, an area of the business which had been flat last year, with the average customer balance unchanged.
A statement read: “We continue to improve the quality of the customer base with the proportion of loans attributable to the company’s highest tier customers increasing by 7 per cent compared to August 27, 2016.
“This reflects the continued success of the company’s credit policy which focuses on higher quality lending.”
Morses added that the territory builds in progress to date are performing ahead of management’s expectations set at the beginning of the year.
As such the company said it is anticipated that the increased level of investment will not have an adverse impact on earnings expectations in the next financial year.
Morses announced a new loan facility earlier this month which it said will lead to over 400 new agent territory builds in the current financial year.
The trading update added that the lender was continuing to make “good progress” on the development of its digital platform to provide innovative new services and products for its customers.
Morses Club Card, the company’s cashless lending product continues its organic growth with Dot Dot Loans, its first online instalment product launched in March 2017, and is continuing in its market test phase.
Morses Club will be announcing its interim results for the 26week period ended August 26 on Thursday, October 5.
It will also declare its dividend, to be paid in quarter one of 2018, on that date.
At the start of the year the company announced it intention to boost its online presence with the acquisition of Shelby Finance, which provides online instalment loans.