South Canterbury Finance Upgraded by S & P

South Canterbury Finance announced today that Standard & Poor’s had affirmed its BB+ long term rating and removed it from CreditWatch Negative, where it was placed on September 20, 2009. The outlook is negative.

Standard & Poor’s acknowledged South Canterbury Finance’s success in sourcing three new independent directors to assist with the governance and management of the company. It had also been able to retain the confidence of its new private placement investors as well as its debenture investors and its audited financial statements for fiscal 2009 had revealed nothing of concern.

South Canterbury Finance CEO Nigel Gormack stated that the upgrade from Standard & Poor’s was an acknowledgement that South Canterbury Finance was making good progress following the appointment of its new directors who together with the senior management team were continuing a major restructure of its business. “Whilst we still have a lot of challenges ahead of us, this is an independent endorsement by Standard and Poor’s that we are making progress on our current path”, he said.