Sancus Lending offloads Gibraltar operations

Sancus Lending Group announced the sale of Sancus Lending Gibraltar on Wednesday, for £10,000, to John Davey.

This AIM-traded company said the move was a result of its review of operations in Gibraltar last year, which did not identify sufficient quality lending opportunities to merit continued efforts in the region.

As it noted in an update on 10 January, the firm had written down its goodwill of £8.64m to nil due to the lack of viable lending opportunities.

The disposal of Sancus Lending Gibraltar would result in cost savings of around £0.2m in relation to run-off costs, as well as avoiding redundancies and associated expenses.

In addition, the board said the sale would allow Sancus to focus on its core markets in the UK, Ireland, and the Channel Islands.

The proceeds of the disposal would be used for working capital purposes, and be paid in cash.

“The sale is in line with the group's ongoing structured change programme,” the board said in its statement.

“The executive team, supported by the board, continues to focus on returning the company to profitability.

“This includes ongoing measures to simplify the business, improve efficiency and optimise the use of its resources.”

Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.