Credit hire and legal services group increases debt facilities to £40m

Anexo group has increased its debt facilities, and boosted litigation funding in its ‘VW Emissions’ legal case.

The Liverpool-based specialist integrated credit hire and legal services provider, with offices in Bolton and Leeds, updated the market this morning in a pre-close statement for the year ended December 31, 2021, ahead of the release of its final results on May 11.

It said it has increased its overall debt facilities to a total of £40m.

It reports new debt facilities of £7.5m from a new lender on regular commercial terms. In addition, the funding facility provided by Secure Trust Bank is being increased by £7.5m through three quarterly increases of £2.5m.

The group has also secured a further £3m of litigation funding to support investment in further diesel emission class actions. It said it expects a court hearing for the class action to take place in January 2023.

Legal division Bond Turner’s Housing Disrepair team has settled 850 cases since its inception on December 7, 2021, and a further 1,800 are currently under management. The re-opening of the court system means litigators have been able to increase case settlements and cash collection, with cash collections currently running at record levels.

Anexo also said the number of its vehicles on the road in its credit hire division, EDGE, has been reduced to 1,955, as part of a targeted approach.

Executive chairman, Alan Sellers, said: “We are pleased to report that Anexo continues to operate in line with management’s expectations.

“Overall, we have seen improvement across all business areas and our targeted approach has resulted in a continued emphasis on quality claims, high success rates and high levels of service to our customers.

“Cash collections continue to improve on an ongoing basis. We look forward to updating shareholders further at our final results in May.”