• Swindon & Wiltshire Professional services
• Tuesday January 9 2024
• Author Name: Peter Davison

Ultimate Finance announces another record year of lending for 2023

Bristol-based specialist asset-based lender Ultimate Finance has reported another year of record lending for 2023, reaching a new milestone in its loan book of over £310 million.

The lender provided funding of more than £2.1 billion to UK SMEs and property investors in 2023, in line with its mission to support an increasing number of businesses with much needed cashflow.

The lender’s portfolio highlights include:

• Reaching a record total loan book of over £310 million in 2023 – up 10 per cent on 2022
• Providing £165 million of new facilities, up 31 per cent on 2022
• Another record year for asset finance with 14 per cent growth in the loan book reaching £98 million, and new origination up 11 per cent on 2022
• Origination growth of 110 per cent in bridging finance, with new facilities paid out of £68 million and the loan book now over £70 million
• Continued market-leading customer service metrics, with the average client retention rates increasing to nearly seven years in 2023 in working capital

Josh Levy, CEO of Ultimate Finance, said: “We set out to be the funding partner of choice to our introducers and clients when we reset our strategy in 2019, focused on delivering flexible asset-based lending solutions through a high-quality personalised service model.

“This strategy has delivered more than £7.5 billion total funding over the last four years and I’m immensely proud of the team, as we continue to provide funding to an increasing number of businesses and property investors throughout the UK, helping them to realise their ambitions.

“We’ve continued to focus on improving our service across the business and our industry leading net promoter Score of 68 is a demonstration of the quality of our proposition to both our introducers and clients. This goes a long way to delivering on our mission to be easy to deal with and to get the right funding out to businesses quickly.

“We have been harnessing the latest innovations and technical capabilities to streamline and automate processes freeing up our team to focus on the added value support which we know sets us apart in our relationships with introducers and clients.

“One example is our utilisation of the latest open finance capabilities to help speed up the application process by highlighting financial suitability upfront enabling a faster funding decision.

“Going into 2024, our focus remains on managing the balance of risk and opportunity in volatile market conditions, and with a General Election on the horizon, we will stay consistent in our appetite and ambition.

“Some businesses understandably remain cautious in light of elevated interest rates and uncertainty, but we are confident that sentiment will continue to improve and trading conditions for many will get easier as inflation falls away.

“Our strong capital base, growing and robust loan book, relationship driven approach to funding, and partnerships with our key Introducer network will ensure we fund even more businesses in 2024 and make it another successful year for Ultimate Finance.”

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