Credit lender Morses Club reports strong progress

Batley-based Morses, the UK's second largest home collected credit lender after Provident Financial, said total credit issued was broadly at the same level at £85.5m in the 27 weeks to August 31. This compares with £85.7m in the previous six month period.

Cash collections rose 5 per cent and impairments are expected to remain within the company’s guidance range.

Paul Smith, chief executive of Morses Club, said: “We are pleased by the performance of the business over the period.

"Morses Club continues to make strong progress on the development of our product diversification strategy, tailored for our customers across the non-standard credit market."

He said the group is effectively consolidating its new acquisitions in line with its principles of "financial prudence and excellent customer service".

"We are fully committed to developing a wider portfolio of products in line with the changing credit needs of our customers and the wider market," he added.

“We successfully launched our new customer portal earlier in the year, and now have around 27,000 customers in Morses Club who can access their account details digitally, whilst still having the face-to-face service from an agent we have always provided."

He said the company is trading in line with expectations and the firm looks forward to the second half of the year with confidence.

Total customer numbers of 224,000 on August 31 have remained largely stable, with the gross loan book also remaining stable with 0.2 per cent growth.