Two senior members of UK lessor General Capital Group have
resigned following discrepancies between its preliminary results
and final results.
Mark Edworthy, MD of General Capital, and Jonathan Hill,
executive deputy chairman resigned on August 5 and 16 respectively
after a fall in share price.
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Preliminary results issued on 28 March claimed pre-tax profits
of £4.1 million for 2007, whereas the final results released 30
June showed losses of £1.9 million. The share price is down 95.3
percent compared to last year and is continuing to fall, dropping
11.5 percent between 19-26 August.
Steve Hartley, the chief group executive director of General
Capital, said two factors caused the discrepancy between the
preliminary and final results.
He said: “One is the market’s continuing deterioration, with
opinions changing week by week in the first half of the year. The
second is new management having a different approach to the
carrying value of balances.”
When the preliminary results were released in March, Edworthy
was appointed executive director of the venture finance division of
the group. Steve Hartley also became group chief executive
officer.
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By GlobalDataSince then, Edworthy and Hill have announced their resignations
along with finance director, Nick Marsham. On 5 August, Helen
Turner was appointed as group financial controller and company
secretary.
The group, which acquired asset finance broker Norton Folgate in
March 2007, specialises in venture leasing, which makes up just
under half of their portfolio, with asset finance comprising 31
percent and property finance making up 21 percent.
However, for the time being, General Capital’s venture leasing
division has been put on hold.
Hartley said: “We managed to reposition ourselves with our banks
so that business could continue to trade, but, for the time being,
we are certainly not doing venture business. We are continuing to
do normal asset finance and property bridging business.”
He continued: “It is an outcome of the market at the moment and
its risk, together with the need to recover out of our positions
that we were exposed to.”
