Sancus Lending Group Ltd on Tuesday said it hired Tracy Clarke as its interim chief financial officer, while it will close its Guernsey office and cease operations in Gibraltar.

Shares in Sancus were up 11% to 1.50 pence each in London on Tuesday afternoon.

The property finance company has appointed Clarke as interim CFO for an initial 12 month period.

Emma Stubbs will step down as CFO after 10 years at Sancus, staying on until March 31 to ensure an orderly handover.

Sancus said Stubbs played an important role in planning its turnaround strategy and thanked her for service.

Clarke has been a non-executive director at Sancus since last March and is currently managing director of Carlton Management Services Ltd.

Sancus said the board’s intention is to appoint a permanent CFO in due course and review arrangements in 12 months.

It will also relocate its group finance to Jersey from Guernsey in the first half of 2023, as part of wider strategy to reduce its five offices to three in London, Dublin and Jersey.

Sancus said this will provide the group with consolidated centres reflecting its three core geographic areas: the UK, the Republic of Ireland and offshore.

It said it will continue to participate in lending opportunities within the Guernsey market.

Sancus has also decided there are not sufficient enough quality lending opportunities to justify continuing its operations in Guernsey beyond 2022.

This will result in cost saving, risk reduction and allow dedicated resources to focus on its core markets, it claimed.

The company’s outlook for 2023 is ‘cautious[ly]’ optimistic, saying it is well-positioned to take advantage of the continued retrenchment of banks and alternative lenders from development financing, providing attractive opportunities for the alternative lenders that can remain active.

This is alongside its recently successful corporate financing.

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