THE boss of Amigo Loans has said the company wants to “do the right thing” for customers after submitting a new bid to save the business.

Bournemouth-based Amigo Holdings held its annual general meeting yesterday after submitting a new bid to cap compensation to customers who complained of mis-selling.

The Commercial Road business– which has cut staff numbers from around 300 to 220 – has repeatedly warned it would become insolvent unless it can win approval for a ‘scheme of arrangement’ to limit payouts.

Amigo saw a previous scheme rejected by the High Court in May – and chief executive Gary Jennison apologised at the AGM for failing to get the scheme approved.

He told the Daily Echo afterwards: “I apologise that we didn’t deliver the right outcome there. We thought that 95 per cent of customers voting in favour meant it would go through and we weren’t well prepared enough.

“We should have challenged more than we did and that’s one of the reasons we’re taking so long this time because we‘re going to get it absolutely right this time – because it is the only outcome that will benefit customers who have had their loans paid off. They’ll get nothing in the counterfactual of insolvency.

“We’re trying to do the right thing for people here.”

The company’s single product has been loans at 49.9 per cent annual percentage rate (APR) to customers who could find a friend or relative to guarantee the loan – but it has put new lending on hold.

Mr Jennison insisted Amigo was needed by the millions who found it difficult to borrow from mainstream lenders.

“There are so many millions of people we know that need people like Amigo and there aren’t many Amigos left,” he said.

“Lots of them have shut down for various reasons so we are needed in this sector, because Barclays won’t lend to people with impaired credit records and we need to help these people,” he added.

A statement to the AGM said: “Collections have remained robust since the end of the year. While we continue to see increased levels of arrears, predominantly from customers exiting Covid-19 payment holidays, overall collections have been robust since the end of the year and remain encouraging. Combined with effective cost management, this has given the company a current unrestricted cash position of £229milion.”

It said the business was operating “within significant financial constraints”, with new lending suspended.

It added: “The board remains committed to pursuing a solution that enables Amigo to satisfy its obligations to all stakeholders in the most equitable way possible and to returning to providing the opportunity for financial inclusion to the many in society who are locked out of finance by the mainstream providers.”

Amigo has put together an independent customers’ committee to advise on its proposals to limit compensation.