Record originations behind strong loan book growth at Together

Cheadle-based specialist lender Together has revealed record originations have driven up the value of its loan book to £5.2 billion in its Full Year Results to June 30th 2022.

The lender’s loan book has grown by more than £1 billion over the 12 month period, with average monthly loan originations of £226.8 million, up 132.5% on the previous year. As a result, underlying profit before tax reached £162.7 million, a 8.7% increase on 2021.

Commenting on the results, Together Group CEO Designate, Gerald Grimes said:

“Together delivered another very strong performance in the year to 30 June as we capitalised on our diverse proposition to increase lending to a wide range of customers, growing our loan book to a new high of £5.3bn and achieving underlying profit before tax of £162.7m. This growth was achieved in a controlled and sustainable way, in line with our strategy and prudent risk appetite, with our loan book average LTV remaining at a very conservative 51.5% and our arrears consistently low.

“We continued to make great progress in implementing our strategic agenda to deliver transformational change, drive efficiency benefits to further enhance the experience for our customers and create an agile and rapidly scalable platform to set the business up for the next phase of its growth. This included expanding our channels to increase access to our markets to sustainably grow our lending, formalising our ESG strategy to help deliver our environmental and social responsibilities in line with our purpose and vision and empowering our colleagues to grow and deliver value to our stakeholders. To support our expected growth opportunities we also raised or refinanced over £4.1bn of facilities during the year.”

Looking ahead, the lender believes it is well positioned to continue to navigate ongoing economic uncertainty; Grimes added:

“The UK’s economic outlook has become more uncertain as global supply chain disruption and rising inflation have led to a tightening of monetary policy and increasing interest rates. As a result of these headwinds many more customers may find themselves underserved by mainstream lenders and look to specialist lenders to help them to solve problems and realise opportunities. With a multi-cycle track record, a clear purpose, our transformation programmes well underway and strong diversified funding in place, Together remains well placed to help increasing numbers of customers realise their ambitions and to play our part in supporting the UK economy.”