Turnover passes £16m at alternative finance specialist

Leeds and Manchester-based alternative finance provider, Reward Finance Group, has marked its milestone anniversary with ten years of continuous growth.

For the year ended February 2021, revenue grew by 10%, pushing through the £16m barrier, with pre-tax profit increasing by 19%.

The company’s loan book grew by £10m in the year to February, with a further £10m added since the year end, taking the book to £95m. Over 300 SMEs were supported during the 12 months.

Group managing director, Nick Smith, said: “Once again, the group has completed a record-breaking year despite a very challenging market due to the impact of COVID-19.

“During a period when lots of businesses have fallen by the wayside, including many finance providers, Reward is now in a far stronger position than pre-pandemic.

“We have always taken great pride in our flexible and pragmatic approach when providing finance to SMEs.

“This was reinforced with the client-by-client strategy we adopted for those businesses affected by the pandemic, rather than taking a blanket sector view.

“We were able to continue to provide funds quickly to those who needed to react to business opportunities, or those needing additional funds to successfully navigate their way through the disruption, as there was no change to our lending appetite throughout the pandemic.”

“Since the year end, we have added £20m of additional share capital into the balance sheet enabling us to increase our own funding lines and lift the maximum amount we can lend from £3m to £5m.

“With banks being pre-occupied with Covid support recoveries it is certainly going to be a busy time for alternative finance providers.”