Hilton sees loans treble
PROPERTY bridging finance company Hilton Ventures saw the size of its loan book treble to more than £2m last year.
The Manchester-based Plus-listed company, which gives short-term loans of up to £750,000, also reduced its operating losses from £291,000 in 2007 to £84,000.
These losses were drastically reduced in the second-half – down from £75,000 in the first six months to £9,000 – and the business has been turning a profit since August. Revenue nearly trebled to £374,000.
Chairman Graham Alcock said the results were, “testimony to the hard work of our closely knit team” which has been “selective and prudent” about the loans they have chosen to advance.
He admitted that some loans have taken longer to redeem in the current climate and Hilton is pursuing one customer for £307,500. But Mr Alcock was generally positive about the property market, citing the opportunities now available to experienced investors.
The business said it had benefitted from the decision of some lenders to pull out of the bridging market and it praised its own banker, Natwest, for its continued support. However, Hilton has bolstered its coffers with a £1.15m loan from NLX Ltd in exchange for 600 million Hilton shares.
Mr Alcock said: “These achievements are testimony to the hard work of our team which has wisely tempered their ability to convert new leads into new loans with the need to be selective and prudent in the loans that we advance.
“As a result, our growth has not been made at the expense of our profit margin nor our monthly interest rate which have both continued to increase.”
Hilton scrapped a plan to step up to the Alternative Investment Market (AIM) during the year causing it to right off £218,000 in associated costs.
