Togethergrows loan book and lending

Specialist finance provider Together reported strong progress in the quarter and record lending volumes, with its loan book reaching £2.55bn.

Togethergrows loan book and lending

Specialist finance provider Together reported strong progress in the quarter and record lending volumes, with its loan book reaching £2.55bn.

Its annual results for 2017 found average monthly loans were up on last year by almost a quarter, with November 2017 delivering the company’s highest ever monthly lending.

Mike McTighe, group chairman, said: “We delivered a 23.2% increase in originations compared with last year, including record monthly lending of £147.5m in November, while maintaining a highly conservative weighted average origination LTV of just 58.7%.

“Underlying profit before tax at £31.5m was 6.1% higher than Q2’17 and thegroup remained highly cash generative, with cash receipts of £299.5m in the quarter.

“During the quarter we continued to enhance our platform to support our future growth ambitions, investing in our people, our brand, our products, our distribution and our systems.

“Our progress was reflected in a ratings upgrade from S&P in November and this momentum continued into January with a further upgrade from Fitch, the refinancing of our Lakeside securitisation facility on favourable terms and our successful £150m bond tap.”

Marc Goldberg, commercial chief executive at Together,said: “This is another great set of results and a testament to the hard work and commitment of our team of almost 650 colleagues as we continue to grow our business by making common sense lending decisions to help our customers access the finance they need.”