GLI Finance heading for operating loss despite cost savings

GLI Finance saved £1m by closing its peer-to-peer supply chain business last year but the alternative finance group warned that it is still heading for an operating loss.

The Aim-listed firm said in a trading update on Tuesday that its decision to close Sancus Finance and reduce headcount from 42 to 34 staff had resulted in £1m of cost savings.

It also said that its lending business – Sancus BMS – had seen its asset-backed loanbook grow by 19 per cent to £199m for the year to 31 December 2019 and is expected to generate revenue of around £13m.

This is down slightly on the £13.3m reported in 2018.

GLI Finance said the slower-than-expected growth outweighed the group’s cost savings and it expects to record a net operating loss for 2019.

However, the update said this may change if the company can refinance a development loan for which it has made a provision of £1.5m.

GLI added that it was expecting a further writedown in the valuation of its FinTech Ventures portfolio as some of the companies have failed to achieve profitability as quickly as previously anticipated and are seeking to raise further equity capital.

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