On 19th May 2021, trading in the group’s shares was temporarily suspended following the identification of accounting errors and misstatements, as well as a failure to properly report certain exposures under the PRA’s large exposure reporting framework between December 2018 and June 2019.
This was followed by the resignation of its former CEO, Scott Maybury, two days later.
In response to these events, the group is progressing with a number of restorative actions, focused on significant improvements to culture, governance, controls, and technology.
Garry Stran, interim CEO at PCF Group, said: “The first six months of the 2021 financial year were challenging as a result of the general ongoing pandemic-related difficulties facing all businesses and individuals, and the specific difficulties that the group has experienced.
“Once again, I thank all my colleagues for their commitment and support during this difficult period.
“It’s through their efforts and diligence that we have been able to continue to operate in an effective manner and I am confident we will return to our strategy of controlled and prudent growth, having learned the lessons from this period, as soon as possible.
“While the necessary actions have been taken to remediate our core finance processes, which culminated in an update to the group's Financial Position and Prospects Procedures memorandum, further work will continue to enhance our processes and develop the foundations to support the future strategy of the group.
“This will be centred around an enhanced, more robust risk management framework and underpinned by higher levels of automation and self-service.
“I look forward to sharing more updates in the future about the status of these activities and the progress towards delivering our strategic priorities.”
The announcement was made in the group’s interim results for the six months ended 31st March 2021, which revealed that its statutory profit after tax had halved to £1m.
According to the company, the reduction on the prior year predominantly reflects higher operating expenses as a result of the focus on remediation activities and the need to invest in order to ensure that the business can support automation and future growth.
New business origination was also lower in the period (£122.9m) and net loans were slightly reduced as a result.
Despite this, the group saw a significant rise in bridging originations in the first half of 2021, and saw its gross bridging lending increase to almost £65m.
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