Morses club 'well-placed for post-pandemic recovery in borrowing'

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Library image of the London Stock Exchange
Morses Club, the provider of non-standard financial services, today said it was well placed for a post Covid-19 recovery in consumer borrowing.

The company has announced its preliminary results for the 53 weeks ended 29 February 2020. Revenue increased by 14.3% to £133.7m and the statutory profit before tax was £11.5m, which is below the £20.2m recorded the year before.

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Paul Smith, the chief executive of Morses Club, said: "FY20 was a year of significant regulatory and operational change for Morses Club, with the company making considerable progress in advancing its strategy, particularly in the development of the digital division.

"HCC remained stable during the year while maintaining strong customer satisfaction levels of 97%. The launch of our online customer portal exemplified the strong progress made in terms of our customer service and digitalisation, with over 78,000 customers registered on the platform by year end, and over 117,000 customers now registered to date.

"The acquisitions of the business and certain assets of CURO Transatlantic Limited and U Holdings Limited enhanced our offering across online loans and digital current accounts.

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"While the division's losses due to the ongoing re-engineering of the businesses were slightly higher than anticipated, Morses Club is confident that the resulting offering will position the group well to take market share in the online non-standard current account and credit space. The Digital division is on track to report a break-even position during FY22.

Mr Smith added: "Since the impact of Covid-19 on our markets, I have been impressed by the resilience and adaptability of the group during a period of unprecedented change.

"The way in which we were able to quickly implement wide-ranging operational changes and leverage our platform to continue to lend to customers is testament to the dedication of our employees and agents, and the customer-centric culture we strive for at Morses Club.

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"It has also been pleasing to see the acceleration of the digitalisation of the group as a result of Covid-19, with demand for our digital products increasing since the first national lockdown in March.

"With the progress made last year, our strategy remains to focus on our customers, leverage and progress our digital capabilities and drive market share growth within the wider non-standard finance market.

"Morses Club is financially robust, and I look forward to further progress being made across the group during the rest of the year. Morses Club is well placed for a post Covid-19 recovery in consumer borrowing."