Orchard Funding shares fall on 'instance of fraud'

Finance group Orchard Funding warned on Friday that it had "suffered an instance of fraud", arising from dealings with a fraudulent introducer.

Orchard said it had struck fraudulent credit agreements with the introducer, leading it to conduct "a thorough review" of its wider lending book and introducer network to ensure that no fraud risks exist elsewhere in its current loan book.

The AIM-listed group also launched a review of its systems and controls to ensure that the risk that it suffers a similar fraud in the future can be minimised.

"The board has made a provision of approximately £500,000 in respect of these fraudulent credit agreements, which will have a knock-on impact on the group's year-end financials," said Orchard.

"The provision represents the group's total exposure to these fraudulent credit agreements, and there are no other agreements in place involving the group which have been introduced via this introducer."

As of 1100 GMT, Orchard Funding shares were down 27.18% at 17.84p.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com