Aldermore profits up as it pledges more lending to SMEs
CHALLENGER bank Aldermore, which has seen its profits increase to £9.2m, says its lending is up 34% year-on-year to £2.7bn.
Announcing its interim financial results for the half year ending June 30, the bank, which has invoice finance operations in locations including West Yorkshire, Birmingham and Manchester, reported an increase in operating profit from £1m at the end of last year to £9.2m.
Four year old Aldermore, which is attempting to position itself as a champion of small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) and homeowners, became profitable for the first time in the last financial year.
A number of significant milestones were reached over the first half of this year, including the bank’s balance sheet passing the £3bn mark for the first time, rising to £3.19bn, an increase of 53% year-on-year.
Aldermore’s Q1 2013 net lending figure through the Funding for Lending Scheme was £230m, the sixth highest amongst all scheme participants.
CEO Phillip Monks said: “Our results truly speak for themselves and demonstrate the rapid growth we are seeing across all areas of the bank.
“We are firmly in the black, recording a pre-tax operating profit of £9.2m, significantly ahead of what we’ve achieved in previous years. We have remained focused on building a thoroughly modern and innovative bank and we are now seeing the fruits of our labour pay off.
“I strongly believe our banking model, offering great rates to British savers and lending to British SMEs and households is working.
“We plan to continue our support of SMEs and homeowners by further increasing our lending over the remainder of this year.”
Meanwhile Aldermore’s chairman Sir David Arculus has announced he is to step down from the board. He will be replaced on an interim basis by existing non-executive director John Callender.
