P2P platform closure pushes Octopus Choice into the red
The company behind peer-to-peer lender Octopus Choice saw its revenue decline by 94 per cent after it closed amid the pandemic outbreak last year.
Octopus Co-Lend, which is the regulated entity behind P2P property lending platform Octopus Choice, said in its annual accounts for the year ending 30 April 2021 that its revenue had been “materially reduced.”
The platform suspended all transactions and withdrawals in March 2020 as the pandemic began to protect liquidity and has since closed permanently.
Octopus Choice waived a platform fee that is usually received from loans but Chris Hulatt, director of Octopus Co-Lend, said in the company’s annual report that this had left the company with “significantly less revenue.”
Octopus Co-Lend posted turnover of £328,160, down from £5.8m previously, its annual report shows.
It reported a pre-tax loss of £261,151.
Hulatt said the company has £500,000 of cash and net assets of £7.5m as well as support from its parent companies Octopus P2P and Octopus Capital to continue trading as a going concern.
Octopus Choice said in February that it had already refinanced and returned half of its portfolio to investors and is currently working on other refinancing deals
“In March 2020, the directors of Octopus Co-Lend, made the decision to close the platform, protecting the liquidity and stabilising its financial position in times of market stress,” Hulatt said.
“As a result of the continuing uncertainty in the market, the platform remains closed with options to provide liquidity to remaining investors being sought and considered.”