Monday 11 March 2019 9:00 am | Updated: Monday 03 June 2019 12:50 am

Provident Financial brands £1.3bn Non-Standard Finance takeover offer ‘strategically and financially flawed’

Doorstep lender Provident Financial has doubled down on its rejection of a takeover bid by rival firm Non-Standard Finance (NSF) this morning.

Provident said it believes the proposed £1.3bn deal is “strategically and financially flawed” after NSF published a document outlining the terms of the offer over the weekend.

In a statement to the market this morning Provident warned that the takeover would jeopardise the progress it has made to refocus the business over the past few years.

Provident said NSF management’s banking and credit card experience is not developed enough to cope with the company’s Vanquis Bank business and added that it was concerned about NSF’s proposal to demerge its Loans at Home business over its viability to exist as a stand alone company.

Provident chairman Patrick Snowball said: "The information contained within NSF's offer document does nothing to change the board's view that the offer is not in the interests of all shareholders and lacks both commercial logic and regulatory understanding.

“NSF has not addressed the concerns that have been raised and they continue to make financially unsound proposals such as the sale of Moneybarn, the sale or closure of Satsuma and the demerger of NSF's Loans at Home business.

“This Offer does not reflect that times have changed and ignores the significant progress we have made with our customers, staff and regulators over the past 12 months.

Non-Standard Finance chief executive John van Kuffeler, who was Provident chairman for 22 years, said the company was “incapable…of reversing its multitude of problems”.

In the offer document he said: “Since I stepped down, Provident has lost its way. This has included compromised customer outcomes resulting from a number of 'managerial mistakes', reduced profits and a dramatic share price decline.”