Time Finance, the Bath-headquartered alternative lender, has hailed as a success a change in strategy which shifted its focus to core lending products from its own resources.
As a result, its lending book reached an all-time high of more than £150m at the end of November.
The turnaround at the firm, which specialises in asset, loan and invoice finance products, was revealed in interim results for the six months to November 30 – a period when it also increased gross lending by 27% to £152.7m. Pre-tax profits rose by 67% to £2m on revenues up 12% at £13.2m.
Chief executive Ed Rimmer said the results “showed good progress, both strategically and financially” taking into account the wider macro-economic and geo-political concerns.
The group remained committed to its medium-term strategy introduced in June 2021, he added, which it “firmly believes will lead to increased shareholder value over time”.
The focus on its key initiatives – core product own-book lending, investing in improved IT infrastructure to enable the business to scale more easily and maximising its multi-product offering – continued apace, he said.
Non-executive chair Tanya Raynes added: “Significant growth in the period has been achieved whilst maintaining our margin, controlling credit and spreading risk as UK businesses continue to value our focus on customer service and our multi-product funding solutions.
“The board is committed to further increasing shareholder value through the stated strategy and, despite the current wider macro-economic headwinds, looks forward to the second half of the financial year with cautious optimism.”
Time Finance, which grew rapidly through a series of acquisitions in the late 2010s under its previous name of 1pm, is a multi-product alternative finance provider to UK SMEs, primarily lending for working capital requirements of UK,
It can also act as a broker in arranging funding where more appropriate. Its lending proposals are originated through a variety of channels, including finance brokers and other professional firms, equipment vendors, suppliers and dealers and direct from borrowers.
