Rebranding last year when the pandemic was at its worst paid off, the CEO of Bath-headquartered specialist lender Time Finance has said as the firm reported higher annual profits and an improved cash position.
The new brand for the business, previously known as 1pm, had created a clear identity in a crowded and competitive market and enabled its sales staff to more effectively cross-sell products, according to Ed Rimmer.
As a result, the firm was well positioned to take advantage of the post-Covid recovery and was pursuing a clearly defined growth strategy.
Fresh ideas were being brought into the organisation as the rebrand continued behind the scenes in improving systems and the group was being repositioned as a multi-product provider of lending facilities to small and medium-sized businesses, focusing on core own-book lending.
In comments made alongside its results for the year to the end of May, Mr Rimmer said: “Market conditions remain challenging as the overhang of government funding initiatives is still apparent.
“However, it is likely that demand for finance will increase again through the course of our financial year. We therefore look forward with a sense of cautious optimism.”
The firm increased annual profits before tax exceptional items and share-based payments by 3% to £3.1m on revenues down 17% at £24.2m.
Time Finance, which specialises in asset, loan and invoice finance products, grew rapidly through a raft of acquisitions prior to the pandemic that took it into new areas of lending, but Mr Rimmer said the emphasis now was on organic growth in stronger areas of the market.
That includes continuing to serve businesses in sectors that have enjoyed rapid growth over the past 18 months such as transport and food distribution.
“The ‘white van’ businesses have done really well and picked up business during the lockdowns,” he said.
“However, we are changing our credit criteria in some sectors that have not done so well, such as hospitality. We used to do a lot of small deals – under £5,000 – in these areas which didn’t work for us, and we’re also moving away from start-ups.”
The spread of businesses among customers was far greater now, he said, with no sector accounting for more than 5% of the firm’s overall book.
“The market will be awash with competition as the economy improves but one of the benefits of the rebrand is we’re much better known now under one brand rather than six or seven,” he added.
With the economy growing again, one area suffering from demand outstripping supply is vehicle finance. The large backlog of orders caused by production shutdowns last year and a lack of parts in the supply chain is causing delivery tailbacks.
Many businesses will not get their vehicles until next year and Time Finance will not get paid until then.
He said the focus of the firm’s strategy was to continue to grow as a well-diversified and risk-mitigated alternative finance provider, recognised as having a comprehensive range of business finance products to offer to an expanding base of UK SME customers.
This would be reflected in its focus on providing more secured own-book lending while maintaining the flexibility to act as a broker where appropriate.
“We therefore look forward with a sense of cautious optimism.”
