Stricken sub-prime lender votes to go private

Morses Club, the troubled sub-prime lender, is to be taken private after shareholders voted on Friday (February 3) to de-list the company from the London Stock Exchange in a bid to stave off insolvency.

The firm, which has been trying for some time to agree a Scheme of Arrangement after it suspended processing claims made against its “unaffordable” loans, says that de-listing will help it access funding that might not be available to it as a public company.

Morses Club, which has offices in Nottingham and West Yorkshire, said in January that the costs of maintaining a public listing on AIM are inhibiting its ability to place £5m into a compensation fund that will be used to pay off the claims against it.

Shares in the firm have become almost worthless in recent times. As we went to press on Friday, they were changing hands for just under 0.5p, giving the firm a market capitalisation of just £437,000.

The last day of dealing in Morses Club’s shares on AIM will be Friday Febaury 10. The move was voted through by a 3:1 majority.

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