Digital savings and loans bank Atom has reported an underlying operating loss of £36 million for the year to end-March 2021, down from £46 million in the year prior.
Atom achieved its first monthly operating profit in June, bosltered by strong growth in Covid-related lending, which was up by 176% to £662 million from £240 million last year.
Atom CEO Mark Mullen says the bank expects to deliver month-on-month profit later this year as it bids for longer-term earnings ahead of a possible future listing sometime in 2022/23.
"While we continue to be loss making, the dynamics of the business have been transformed and we have developed strong momentum towards reaching breakeven on a monthly run rate during 2022," he says.
However, the bank will have to return to investors for a further capital raise in the interim to maintain its going concern status.
States chairman Bridget Rosewell: "Capital continued to be eroded by losses this year, however we expect to reach regulatory capital neutrality in the first half of 2022. Our current levels of capital can therefore support the Bank for at least a further 12 months as the going concern statement attests, and much work has been done to stress the robustness of this conclusion. Of course, to meet our ambition for growth and scale capability, we will be looking to add new capital in due course and are working with our advisers and shareholders to achieve this."
The Durham-based lender's last £40 million funding round in April came in at a steeply discounted price of 60p-a-share, just under half the price at which it raised equity in 2019.