Mortgage Times reports operating loss of £1.3m

9 November 2009 | By Natalie Thomas

The company has just filed its 2008 accounts to Companies House which show that Mortgage Times’ operating loss for last year had risen from an £81,888 operating loss made in 2007.

As at the end of last year Mortgage Times had net current liabilities of £1.5m.

The auditors’ report suggests that these figures “indicates the existence of a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt about the group’s ability to continue as a going concern.

As at December 31 2008 Mortgage Times owed its creditors a total of £4,734,779.

Out of this creditor total, some £3,643,229 was owed to “trade creditors”.

Turnover at Mortgage Times fell from £43.7m in 2007 to £26.7m in 2008.

The total number of mortgage completions fell by 30% compared to 2007.

The number of appointed representative firms stayed relatively flat going from 553 firms in 2007 to 567 as at the end of 2008, but the company admits that these firms have written less business as a result of the financial crisis.

The accounts also reveal that in February this year The Mortgage Times Group set up a new parent company called Mortgage Times Group Holdings.

This company was controlled by Mortgage Times directors Paul Carmody and Chris May, and went on to provide Mortgage Times with an unsecured subordinated loan of £305,000.

The accounts show that one month later in March 2009 Mortgage Times sold the rights to an undisclosed portfolio of recurring commission from insurance products for an initial lump sum, with additional money paid dependending on the performance of products sold.

They also note the commissions that the company’s directors were entitled to for introducing clients to Mortgage Times.

This includes a payment of £67,308 to Mark Bowler and £5,280 to Chris May, both paid on an “arms length basis.”

As at December 31 2008 Chris May was owed £57,741 by Mortgage Times relating to a company loan.

The company’s highest paid director was not named in the accounts but the amount paid was shown to be £199,947, compared to £231,618 a year earlier.

Staff costs went from a total of £7,634,617 in 2007 to £4,511,597 in 2008.

Between the end of 2007 and the end of 2008 the number of administration staff went from 158 to 99, the number of marketing staff was cut from 18 to 13, director Mark Bowler resigned and the number of sales staff went from 37 to 22.

In its accounts Mortgage Times says that its recently launched mortgage portal will allow the group to provide additional services to the mortgage market which “should generate substantial income from the second half of 2009”

The company’s bankers have said that overdraft facilities are available for Mortgage Times until at least March 2010.

Mortgage Times’ management is predicting that the company will have made a profit for the second half of this year, and that “the group will have adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the forseeable future.”

 

 

 

 

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