Morses Club H1 revenues and pre-tax profits rise as digital division shines

Doorstop lender Morses Club said on Thursday that revenues and adjusted pre-tax profits had risen in the six months ended 28 August.

Morses stated interim revenues were up 4.4% to £52.4m as total credit issued rose 29.2% to £77.8m, principally driven by a 172.5% increase in credit issued to digital customers to £24.8m.

Home collected credit was up 3.9% at £53.1m and the firm's net loan book increased 8.5% to £60.3m.

Statutory pre-tax profits were £1.8m, up from £800,000, and adjusted pre-tax profits grew from £2.3m to £2.6m.

Morses still posted a statutory loss of £4.7m in its digital division, broadly flat year-on-year, as a result of increased marketing spend in the unit and investment in a new loan management platform.

Earnings per share more than doubled to 1.1p per share on a statutory basis and Morses also proposed an interim dividend of 1.0p per share, the same as it had done a year earlier.

Chief executive Paul Smith said: "Our resilience as a business underpins continued growth in our digital division which has experienced a 172.5% increase in credit issued and a significant increase in customer numbers in the period. The HCC division has performed well, despite the challenges brought about by the pandemic, and this has given us a strong foundation to address market demand, particularly in our lending products.

"We continue to maintain our position as one of the market leaders for customers who face financial challenges in accessing lending products. Our levels of customer satisfaction, allied with the engagement levels from our teams, are testament to our strategy of putting customers at the very heart of our day-to-day operations."

As of 1150 BST, Morses shares were down 6.96% at 67.45p.