Vanquis looks to cut another £15m in costs
Vanquis Bank is cutting another £15m of costs from the business as it seeks to shore up its financial performance.
The specialist lender has today announced a £26.8m pre-tax loss in the first half of 2024. It comes two weeks after the Bradford-based business revealed it had been forced to write-down £40m after a review of its balance sheet.
Vanquis chief executive Ian McLaughlin, said: “We have revisited our strategic plan and are making further changes to deliver an additional £15m in cost savings by the end of 2025, along with new revenue initiatives.”
It says the business is “on track” to deliver £60m of cost savings by the end of this year. The group revealed last October that it would be cutting about 350 jobs during 2024.
In March the finance group issued a profit warning blaming rising complaints. Vanquis said it “has been experiencing significant levels of third party complaint submissions”, although it is not part of the FCA’s car finance review into commissions and sales practices.
However McLaughlin highlighted some positive signs in the business.
“We are making good progress on our business transformation and refreshed customer proposition presented in March,” he said. “New customer volumes grew in the first half at better margins, leading to overall receivables growth in June.”
Vanquis, which was a FTSE 100 company when it was known as Provident Financial, specialises in non-standard finance, although has been moving away from Provident Financial’s sub-prime specialisms.
It offers credit cards and loans as Vanquis, vehicle finance as Moneybarn, and has a fintech brand, Snoop.
