Loan provider that never made a profit owed more than £24m as it collapsed into administration with almost 140 jobs lost

A Manchester loan provider owed more than £24m when it entered administration with the loss of almost 140 jobs.

Auden Group collapsed in March having been loss-making since it was set up in 2013. The business had provided short term (3-12 month) loans of between £200 and £1,000 to customers.

It was regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority (FDA) and had a £2.7m loan book supporting 4,200 customers. Prior to entering administration it had grown to employ 138 people.

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Daniel Conway and Geoff Rowley of specialist business advisory firm FRP Advisory were appointed joint administrators of the group on March 23.

At the time, FRP said it had been hired after the business' level of lending was not able to sustain its operational cost base. Auden Group is now not accepting applications for loans from new customers.

According to its most recently available set of accounts, the group posted a revenue of £15,164 for the 12 months to September 30, 2021, and losses of £19.7m.

In a newly-filed document with Companies House, FRP said the company had been loss-making since its inception with the losses increasing every year. The business had been funded through shareholder capital and loans.

The administrators added that Auden Group's losses were mainly due to the building of the technology platform to support the provision of loans as well as both payroll and overheads being "vastly in excess" of what could be covered by its revenue alongside "significant" marketing expenditure.

FRP said: "The business was built for scale to service the extensive market for vulnerable customers more ethically than other lenders, improving individuals' credit scores in the