St Laurence staves off threat of receivers

St Laurence has agreed to a set of key performance indicators for its financial performance, including the stipulation that the finance company continues to achieve the rate of return on its assets and maintain sufficient cash to fully repay its class A debentures due prior to November 30 2013, managing director Kevin Podmore said in a letter to investors.

"We calculated we need an 11% return on assets to meet all of our obligations in full," Podmore told Good Returns. "If we had plugged in the numbers and they had come out at 25%, well, that would be too high."

Podmore said times are challenging and he could not be confident the company will meet its KPIs. He said the targets are achievable and the company will focus on meeting its short and medium-term debts as they fall due.

"Now we can focus on one thing - generating returns for our investors," he said. "In some ways, I think companies in moratorium have it a little bit easier than those that aren't - they have to fight to keep their head above water and meet criteria for the government's guarantee."