SANCUS LENDING GROUP LIMITED

Management Reports • Jul 3, 2017

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RNS Number : 8902J

GLI Finance Limited

03 July 2017

3 July 2017

GLI Finance Limited

("GLI" or the "Company")

Increase in stake in Sancus Finance Limited

The Board announces that, on 30 June 2017, Sancus BMS Group Limited ("Sancus BMS"), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Company, acquired 23,209 ordinary shares in Sancus Finance Limited ("Sancus Finance"), formerly Platform Black Limited, representing 10% of the issued ordinary share capital of Sancus Finance, taking its holding to 98.23%.  The ordinary shares were purchased from private investors (the "Minority Investor Group") by Sancus BMS for £350,000 in cash. The ordinary shares were originally acquired by the Minority Investor Group (as announced by the Company on 29 July 2016) at the same valuation, but the operational relationship has not developed as envisaged at that time and greater flexibility is required going forward.

Sancus BMS has also purchased 200,000 preference shares from the Minority Investor Group at par for a total consideration of £203,490 in cash, including the accrued interest, again reversing the transaction which took place on 29 July 2016.

As part of this transaction, all further rights held by the Minority Investor Group were also cancelled. These include the option to acquire for cash a further 20% of Sancus Finance's ordinary share capital from Sancus BMS at a £5m valuation and the right to appoint three Non Executive Directors to the Board of Sancus Finance.

Sancus Finance is increasingly being run on a combined basis with Funding Knight which is a 100% owned subsidiary of GLI.  Increased ownership of Sancus Finance provides greater flexibility to deliver the synergies associated with running the two businesses alongside each other.  By combining offices and some elements of infrastructure, significant cost reductions have been achieved, including through lower staff numbers.  A new combined sales team has been recruited to offer an enhanced and wider product range in the second half of 2017 offering a one stop solution to the SME, Property and Education sector offering increased revenue potential.

Sancus Finance recorded turnover and a post-tax loss of £0.9m and £2.0m respectively in the eighteen months ended 31 December 2016. Sancus Finance's net assets at 31 December 2016 were £0.9m. Sancus Finance became a subsidiary of Sancus BMS on 30 June 2016.

For further information, please contact:

GLI Finance Limited
Andy Whelan	+44 (0)1534 708900
Liberum Capital Limited (Nominated Adviser and Corporate Broker)
Steve Pearce	+44 (0) 207 100 2000
Chris Clarke
Jonathan Wilkes-Green
Instinctif Partners (PR Advisor)
Tim Linacre/Nick Woods	+44 (0)207 457 2020

About GLI Finance

GLI is an AIM listed innovative alternative finance business, which owns a niche SME lender, Sancus BMS that operates in 6 jurisdictions -  UK, Ireland, Jersey, Guernsey, Gibraltar and the Isle of Man, and a portfolio of emerging FinTech SME-focussed lending platforms that are located on 3 continents. 

This information is provided by RNS

The company news service from the London Stock Exchange

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