CREDIT lender Cattles is confident about its prospects for the coming year despite the credit crunch and said it has seen a strong start to the year.
The Batley-based company said it is on top of its funding needs and it is confident of raising the rest of the £100m needed for its 2008 funding targets.
It has secured £200m of the £300m funding required this year from wholesale markets.
The g
roup is also making a £200m cash-call to shareholders to boost its finances.
Cattles recently called off talks to buy a substantial consumer finance business, which would have included a banking licence.
But it is continuing with plans to become a bank and hopes the rights issue will support its application for a licence by boosting its capital base.
The company expects to attract around £1bn in deposits by 2010 once it becomes a bank.
Trading in the first quarter of 2008 met expectations with customer numbers continuing to grow at around the same rate as 2007; loan arrears were flat.
The group is achieving higher margins and has tightened its lending criteria.
Cattles, which serves customers who have been turned down by the high street banks, said the group's Welcome Finance division had continued to see strong revenue growth.
The Welcome Finance division, which represents more than 95 per cent of the business, reported an 18 per cent increase in business volumes in the first three months of 2008.
Its Welcome Car Finance business saw a 28 per cent rise in vehicle sales to 4,115, with average gross margin per vehicle rising 14 per cent to £2,800.
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