(Alliance News) - James Benamor, founder of Amigo Holdings PLC, is seeking to return as chief executive despite having recently offloaded much of his majority holding, the Financial Times reported on Friday.
In April, majority owner Richmond Group Ltd's Benamor, called for the sub prime lender's entire board to be ousted after saying the company is "committing slow motion suicide", but shareholders rejected Benamor's resolutions.
Amigo and Benamor settled their dispute in June, with Benamor deciding to sell his entire 61% stake in the company.
In a Friday blog post, the FT said: "Benamor said he wanted to return to the company to lead an international expansion while fighting what he described as 'unethical' UK authorities."
Under Benamor's plan, the FT reported, incumbent Chief Executive Glen Crawford would keep control of Amigo's UK-regulated Amigo Loand Lts subsidiary, focusing on cost cutting and shrinking debt, as well as embarking on a judicial view of the Financial Ombudsman Service's handling of customer complaints.
For its financial year ended March 31, Amigo posted revenue of GBP294.2 million, up 8.7% from GBP270.7 million recorded the year prior. However, pretax loss was GBP37.9 million swinging from a profit of GBP111.0 million. Net loan book was GBP643.1 million, down 9.1% from GBP707.6 million.
The deterioration in its financials was driven by an increase in complaint volumes, resulting in a complaints cost of GBP126.8 million compared to a cost of GBP100,000 in financial 2019. The company has set aside a complaints provision of GBP117.5 million to handle complaints compared to no provision as at the end of financial 2019.
Benamor himself would take over parent company Amigo Holdings to build new businesses in markets that, the FT quoted, "unlike the UK regulated market, enjoy fair and stable rule of law".
"Benamor had previously been reported to be planning to establish an international rival to Amigo after he first left the company's board in 2018," the FT noted.
https://www.ft.com/content/89f25b52-8ef4-41db-99dd-b52cf4c039c0
By Anna Farley; annafarley@alliancenews.com
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Amigo (AMGO)