Wonga to borrow £25m in revival attempt

Wonga is taking on nearly £25m of new debt to fund new loans and provide additional working capital.

Related topics:  Finance News
Rozi Jones
11th April 2016
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Sky News reported that the new funding, from one of its existing shareholders, will be used to try and repair Wonga's image and return the company to profitability.

Last year, Wonga announced a £37.3m loss, with revenues dropping by almost £100m to £217.2m.

It was criticised for not adequately assessing customers’ ability to meet repayments in a sustainable manner, and was ordered to write off approximately 330,000 loans.

However the short-term lender has since made major changes to affordability criteria, and recently began trialling a 90-day loan which allows customers to spread repayments over a longer period.

It was granted full consumer credit permissions from the FCA in January this year.

A Wonga spokesman said:

"We said when we announced our full-year results last year that we might look to raise debt funding in 2016 as part of our normal capital management and to support the growth of our loan book.

"Following positive talks with a number of parties, we have successfully secured a €30m (£24.2m) debt facility."

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