UK Small Caps

LONDON (ShareCast) - Sub-prime lender Cattles (LSE: CTT.L - news) has sacked seven senior executives, six of whom have been suspended since March when the company uncovered a "breakdown" in internal controls.

Cattles' finance boss James Corr, chief operating officer of Cattles and chairman of trading subsidiary, Welcome Financial Services, Ian Cummine, and another senior boss at Welcome have all been axed following a review conducted by law firm Freshfields and accountants Deloitte.

Another three chiefs at Welcome, suspended since 3 March, have also had their contracts terminated, while Treasury & Risk Director of Cattles, Mark Collins, also gets his marching orders.

None will receive any compensation for their dismissals.

A number of other staff across both businesses face "appropriate" disciplinary action.

There are also changes at the very top, with chairman Norman Broadhurst, formerly finance boss at Railtrack, leaving the group straight away. He had planned to go at the AGM later this month. Chief executive David Postings joins Broadhurst on the way out.

Margaret Young, currently a non-executive director and chairman of the audit committee, becomes executive chairman of Cattles, and Robert East joins the board as chief restructuring officer.

The firm said it is still working closely with its debt providers to win their support for a programme of action to stabilise the company's financial position.

Talks aimed at obtaining a standstill agreement continue, it confirmed Wednesday.