Skipton Building Society sells credit checking arm Callcredit

Published: 12:15PM GMT 08 Dec 2009

Although Skipton – the country's fifth-largest society – did not disclose the
sum paid, it said: "The deal generates around £40m of additional
profit, boosting the society's capital base." The disposal lifts its
core tier one capital ratio from 7.19pc to 8.7pc.

Callcredit is the UK's third-largest credit checking business after Experian
and Equifax. The management, led by chief executive John McAndrew, owns a
small stake and will remain at the helm. Skipton founded Callcredit, which
has an annual turnover of around £50m and last year recorded a £5m profit,
in 2000.

The society retains a number of other unusual building society interests,
including the 460-branch estate agent Connells, five independent financial
advisers and mortgage servicing business Homeloan Management.

David Cutter, Skipton chief executive, said: "We're delighted to have
achieved such a positive outcome. Callcredit has been a major success story
for Skipton of which we are very proud. Our support and guidance has enabled
the business to penetrate the credit referencing and marketing information
markets and, in doing so, to become a serious rival to the major players,
from which it continues to take market share.

He added that following a strategic review Skipton had decided that Callcredit "was
no longer core to our future business direction".

He said: “Therefore we concluded that this is the appropriate time for
Callcredit to move on and for its next growth phase to be supported by
private equity, rather than ourselves as a member-owned building society.
We’re delighted to have achieved such a positive outcome for Callcredit’s
staff, and for Skipton, and this substantial boost to our profitability and
financial strength will provide a real shot in the arm for our own future
business ambitions.”

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