Credit, Collections & Insolvency News
Specialist home credit provider, Morses Club has announced that it anticipates Group pre-tax profits will be ahead of current market expectations. In its latest trading update, the company says it was able to perform resiliently and profitably during a challenging year.
The company says it moved to a remote Home Collect Credit (HCC) lending model, this was made possible by its previous investment in its digital capability which enabled it to resume lending to existing customers just three weeks after lockdown was announced in March 2020. 64% of lending in the HCC division is now cashless and transacted through its portal, with customers signed up to the portal rising by about 70% during the period.
Total credit issued within HCC reduced by 37% to £109.7 million, which the business says reflects reduced demand due to national and regional lockdowns during the year, along with the Group’s stricter lending criteria to protect the quality of the loan book.
The HCC gross loan book reduced by 28.6% to £102.1 million) and total customer numbers within HCC were 152,000.
The firm’s Digital division was also hit by falling demand due to lockdown measures along with the Group’s tightening of lending criteria to maintain high-quality lending.
Total credit issued increased by 21.4% to £19.3 million and customer numbers were 29,000.
Paul Smith, Chief Executive Officer of Morses Club, said “First and foremost, I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to all of our teams and agents, who have worked tirelessly to ensure that our customers have continued to receive excellent customer service. Without their teamwork and support, we would not have ended the year in as strong a position as we have. ”
“Last year was a challenging yet transformational year for Morses Club, during which we demonstrated the robustness of our business model. The pandemic has resulted in the acceleration of our digital strategy, vindicating our previous investment, and as a result, we have made a number of permanent changes to our offering to meet changing customer behaviour.”
“Our strong new operating platforms, increasing suite of services and first-class customer service ensure the Group is well-placed to capitalise on opportunities going forward. We are encouraged by evidence of pent-up demand for our growing number of products as lockdown eases and we look forward to making further progress in facilitating financial inclusion across the UK as the economy gradually rebounds during 2021.”
