Whistleblower raised Cattles financial woes, AGM hears

A WHISTLEBLOWER revealed the £700m black hole in Cattles’ finances, it emerged today at a stormy annual general meeting.

The troubled subprime lender’s AGM ended just before 2pm today after three hours of discussion during which shareholders challenged the group’s new board to answer questions on its ongoing financial crisis.

Although journalists were denied access to the meeting, around 100 shareholders in the Leeds-based company attended the AGM at Savile’s Hall at the
Royal Armouries.

One shareholder submitted 51 written questions to the board prior to the meeting but many still had questions following the formal proceedings.

During the meeting, presided over by Cattles’ new executive chairman Margaret Young, it emerged that a member of staff at the group’s Welcome Financial Services subsidiary had raised the issue which showed the group had underestimated its bad debts by £700m.

Shares in Cattles have been suspended since April and the group is facing demand for immediate repayment of £400m of bondholder debt which had been due to mature in 2017.

Earlier this month it secured the extension of its £500m banking facilities until the end of the year.

Cattles is in the advanced stages of selling its Manchester-based invoice discounting business.