After announcing the resignation of chief executive Eric Lookhoff early last week, specialist lender QuickFee followed up with news on Friday that Lookhoff, who was to serve a four-month notice period, has departed.

While the company looks for a new CEO, the job will be shared by the chief financial officer Simon Yeandle, founder and executive director Bruce Coombes, and non-executive director Dale Smorgon.

It was only in June last year that Coombes stepped down from the CEO role and handed the reins to Lookhoff.

The loss of its CEO after a little over a year is bad news for a company that has an ambitious growth strategy but has not made much headway on the “path to profitability”.

The company lost A$7.3 million in the December half, a blowout from a loss of $2.9 million in the December half 2020. 

Cash outflow from operating activities was $10.4 million. Cash on the balance sheet has fallen from $21.3 million at June 30 last year to $11.8 million at the end of December.

QuickFee’s core business is a form of receivables finance for accounting and law firms. Since its launch in 2009, it entered the US market in 2016 and has added: a buy now pay later product; a merchant acquiring and payment processing service; and accounting services.