Manolete Partners PLC (AIM:MANO)’s share price got a boost this morning after the company said in a trading update that it had sustained record levels of new case investments since Covid-19.
Its share price on the London Stock Exchange rose 13.43% by 9.58 am to 151.99p per share after the company revealed it had continued to take on new case investments at pace since the UK relaxed temporary laws stopping pandemic insolvencies.
The insolvency litigation financing company said in a trading update for the first half of fiscal 2024 that new case investments had doubled to 179, up from 83 a year ago, remaining flat on the 180 recorded in the prior six-month period.
Manolete’s chief executive Steven Cooklin said: "In the first half of the year the business has continued its strong growth after emerging from the government suppression of the insolvency sector during the Covid-19 period.
“The total number of our new case investments in the first half of our current trading year is 116% higher than the first half of last year, mirroring the substantial rise in UK insolvencies in the post-pandemic period.”
Manolete said it had brought on board 33 new investment cases through the Barclays Bounce Back Loan Recovery Pilot scheme it runs with Barclays during the six months to the end of September, adding to the 48 cases it took on through the trial in the prior six months.
During the second half of fiscal year 2023, the company said it had experienced a “sharply positive rebound”, recording record number of case investments as the insolvency market resumed to more normal conditions.
After the onset of the global Covid-19 pandemic, the UK government suspended lawful trading rules until June 2021 and restrictions on winding-up petitions were only abandoned last spring.
Manolete said it expects profitability for the latest six-month period to be “marginally less” than during the second half of fiscal 2023 “primarily due to the reduction in average case sizes”.