Crowdstacker going for growth despite revenue decline
Crowdstacker has said that its liquidity position is improving after spending its most recent financial year investing and restructuring the business.
The peer-to-peer lending and crowd bond platform said it has brought more services in-house, focused on recovering money and moved to providing a smaller range of loans, including a shift to property development.
In its annual accounts for the 12 months to 31 March 2021, its auditor The HHC Partnership said a material uncertainty may exist for the platform continuing as a going concern due to its losses and money owed from a borrower in liquidation.
However, chief executive Karteek Patel (pictured) said in the accounts, posted on Companies House, that he has a “reasonable expectation that the company and the group have adequate resources to continue in operational existence for the foreseeable future.”
He said funds have been recovered from the borrower in question during the reporting period and since then.
“It is also very probable that further significant funds will be recovered post year end which will greatly improve the company’s liquidity position,” he said.
The financial document does not name the borrower.
It comes after a landmark court ruling in August backed a restructuring plan for Amicus, a collapsed company that had received funding from Crowdstacker investors. This has made it unclear how much investors, currently owed £4.1m, will get back.
Crowdstacker’s annual accounts showed its revenue fell by 37 per cent during the financial year to £422.462, which was attributed to the pandemic.
The platform made a pre-tax loss of £274,618 for 2021, which is an improvement on the £360,500 loss posted a year before.
The accounts showed that Crowdstacker took out a £270,800 convertible loan under the future fund government support scheme in March.
“The whole sector has experienced a difficult time but Crowdstacker has managed to successfully navigate this by being cautious, careful and conservative,” Patel told Peer2Peer Finance News.
“As a business we have been busy developing our strengths so that we can roll out new products, something which so far has been proving extremely popular with our investors. We have also been satisfied with our ability to reduce losses and maintain a ‘steady-as-she-goes’ approach.
“This strategy, we believe, will continue to underpin the financial future of the business and we are looking forward to making the most of further exciting opportunities in 2022.”
Read more: Crowdstacker reviews lending strategy as losses shrink