Aldermore sees profits double
ALDERMORE Invoice Finance, the lender once known as Cattles Invoice Finance, almost doubled its profits over its last financial year.
The business was sold by sub-prime lender Cattles to AnaCap Financial Partners for £70m in 2009 but a few months later it was rolled into another Anacap venture, London-based Aldermore Bank.
It was first rebranded as Absolute Invoice Finance but will now trade as Aldermore Invoice Finance and its 200-strong team works with the bank’s other SME divisions, which specialise in providing asset finance facilities and commercial mortgages.
Aldermore, which employs around 60 staff at its Manchester office, almost doubled its profit to £4.7m in the year to December 31, 2010 from £2.4m in the previous year. Turnover was £23.82m, up from £20.9m in 2009.
The invoice finance division also saw an increase in new business volumes of 40%, taking its total loan book to £110m. On the back of the positive results, Aldermore has launched a £50m fund aimed at supporting larger SMEs.
The Aldermore Growth Fund aims to encourage expansion among the UK’s larger SMEs, and is open to businesses with an annual turnover of between £2.5m and £25m. The fund will provide medium-sized businesses, which struggle to raise funds through corporate bonds or rights issues, with an alternative option to traditional bank funding.
Darren Cottenden, regional managing director of invoice finance at Aldermore in the North West, said: “Our invoice finance division has achieved a record level of growth and continues to thrive despite challenging economic conditions. This has reinforced to us the importance of supporting the growth ambitions of other medium-sized businesses across the UK.
“While the term ‘credit crunch’ has been used less and less over recent months, as the economy has begun to move out of recession, the reality is that lending to SMEs is continuing to fall. Alongside the dramatic decline in funding through government-backed schemes, such as the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme, many of the major high street banks have remained reluctant to lend to viable businesses despite significant improvements to their own balance sheet strength. And for many larger SMEs, that means being starved of vital funding for growth.
“By ringfencing £50m of our capital in the form of the Aldermore Growth Fund, we’re making it clear to businesses that there are funding options available that could enable them to fulfill their growth ambitions.”
