City round-up: Together Financial Services; Regional REIT; Begbies Traynor
Interest receivable and profits rose in the second quarter for Cheadle-based specialist property lender, Together Financial Services.
It reported £220.2m of interest receivable in the three months to December 31, 2024, compared with £189.6m in the corresponding quarter the previous year.
Pre-tax profits of £48.3m were an improvement on the £47.7m figure in 2023.
The loan book also grew to a new high of £7.7bn.
Group Chief Executive, Richard Rowntree, said: “I am pleased to report another strong performance during the quarter, reflecting the unique strengths of Together.
“Since joining in November, I have been impressed by the commitment and dedication of the team and everything I have seen has confirmed what attracted me to this market leading business.”
He added: “During the quarter, we grew the loan book to a new high of £7.7bn, while delivering an attractive net interest margin of 5.4% and increasing net interest income by 12.6%, underlying profit before tax by 14.8% and cash receipts by 29.8% compared with the quarter to December 2023.
“We also further strengthened and diversified our funding, upsizing our LABS bridging facility to £1bn in November. We maintained this momentum into January, when we successfully separated our CABS 2 facility into two revolving warehouses to support our first and second charge RMBS programmes and, earlier this month, we successfully issued our first RMBS of 2025.”
He said: “Looking forward, the UK economy is expected to perform better in 2025, driven by higher consumer and government spending and a continued reduction in interest rates, although the pace at which rates fall may be limited by persistent inflation.
“With long term structural trends including changing employment patterns, a rise in multiple incomes and a continued lack of funding for SMEs supporting an increase in customers looking to specialist lenders for solutions, we will continue to be there to help people realise their ambitions as we have for the last 50 years.”
Average monthly lending during the period was £283.2m, up 21.6% on Q2’24 (£233m) and 5.1% on Q1’25 (£269.3m).
Together said while it continues to see some increase in arrears, this is limited to certain segments of the loan book and is slowing compared with prior periods, while, more broadly, arrears are flattening across the majority of its products.
It said the group remains highly profitable and cash generative. Underlying profit before tax was £55.7m, up 14.8% on Q2’24 (£48.5m) and up 3.7% on Q1’25 (£53.7m), primarily due to the increase in net interest income during the period.
Cash receipts were £913.4m (Q2’24: £703.6m; Q1’25: £787.6m) following a strong quarter for redemptions.
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Stephen Inglis
Property investment trust Regional REIT has seen a like-for-like decline in the value of its portfolio of 8.2% in 2024.
The portfolio is values at £622.5m (2023: £700.7m), with disposals amounting to £30.8m (before costs) during 2024 in line with their respective sale valuation dates (2023: £26.1m)
However the listed business is beginning to see an improvement in sentiment in the regional office market after a challenging year.
In a statement to the stock market this morning Stephen Inglis, Head of ESR Europe LSPIM Ltd., the Asset Manager, said: “Undoubtedly, we are beginning to see improvement in sentiment in the UK office market and companies’ attitudes to staff attendance in the office. This will result in enhanced rents for the quality accommodation that Regional REIT provides and improving occupancy levels following our Capex programme, leading to an improved net income position.”
Since September 2024 the business has renewed a lease for Ellesmere Port-based The Alexander Beard Group for 4,369 sq. ft. of space to October 2034 with a break option in 2030, at a rental income of £61,200 pa (£14.00/ sq. ft.).
Also, The Royals building on Altrincham Road in Manchester has seen a renewal from The Golfers Club U.K. for 5,470 sq. ft. of space to December 2025 with a break option in March 2025, at a rental income of £82,050 pa (£15.00/ sq. ft.).
However, he also admitted that a strategy of holding out for higher value planning consent has meant the business is holding some vacant and part vacant assets for longer, which has a short term impact on occupancy and net income.
“It is expected that the value improvement upside will be substantial on those assets,” he said.
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Ric Traynor, Begbies Traynor
Begbies Traynor has told the market this morning that a strong pipeline and continuing elevated activity levels will extend their strong financial track record of growth.
Predominantly an insolvency practitioner and turnaround advisor, the Manchester headquartered group expects to announce a trading update for the full year in May 2025.
Ric Traynor, Executive Chairman of Begbies Traynor Group, said: “We have maintained the strong performance reported at the half year, and continue to see encouraging activity levels and positive momentum across the group. With recent reports of rising insolvencies and business financial distress, market conditions remain supportive. We therefore continue to invest in and develop our teams to take advantage of opportunities for growth.”
