Pre-tax profits have again soared at Time Finance, the Bath-headquartered alternative finance provider, as it enters the final year of its four-year strategic plan to reshape the business.
The firm, which provides asset, loan and invoice finance products to more than 11,000 UK businesses, has spent three years targeting lending book growth driven by both its invoice finance division and what it called the ‘hard’ subset of its wider asset division.
As both of these products are in the secured lending arena, they provide scope for larger average deal sizes.
The result has been a sizeable recovery in sales and profits, with the group’s trading update for the three months to 31 August revealing another strong set of results.
Pre-tax profits were ahead by 46% at £1.9m on a 20% increase in revenue to £9.1m.
Own-book lending origination was up 9% to £22.1m while Net Tangible Assets climbed by 14% to £40.1m and net bad debt write-offs remained at 1% of the average lending book, unchanged from the same date one year prior.
Time Finance chief executive officer Ed Rimmer said: “As we enter the final year of our four-year medium-term strategic plan, I am very encouraged that the first quarter of the new financial year continues to deliver increased growth in our lending book, our net tangible assets, our revenues and our profit before tax.
“The lending book has now seen consistent increases for 13 consecutive quarters, reflecting the demand for our multi-product offering and the value placed on our first-class customer service by UK businesses seeking access to finance.
“Pleasingly, our net arrears and net bad debt write-offs are well within our target ranges and underline our commitment to responsible and sustainable lending.”
As a result, the Time board retained “real confidence” that the group was positioned for further growth and would build increased value for its shareholders over time, he added.
“With an eye firmly on the future and building on this momentum, management is focused on establishing a new medium-term strategy that will commence from June next year and guide the company’s next period of growth,” he said.
