Specialist finance firm, Together, has revealed that lending has returned to pre-pandemic levels as the economy rebounds after the Covid-19 crisis.
The Cheadle-headquartered group also announced its full year results, posting pre-tax profits of £149.7 million. Together’s overall loan book now stands at £4 billion, after seeing lending jump nearly 131% on the previous half year in the six months to the 30th June.
Gerald Grimes, Group CEO Designate at Together, said:
“At the start of our financial year the UK was still in its first lockdown, the property market was only just reopening, millions were furloughed, millions more deferring their mortgage payments and development activity had all but ceased. Against this backdrop, we have continued to increase our lending levels during the year.
“It has taken common sense, logic, a calm approach and decisive actions to navigate through this unprecedented time and these results are a testament to the extraordinary efforts of our colleagues over the last 12 months.”
Mr Grimes said the specialist finance firm had also added “significant additional scale and depth” to its funding structure by raising or refinancing over £1.3 billion of facilities in five transactions during the financial year. He added
“While the economy is performing much better than expected and is forecast to grow strongly, we expect that following government Covid-19 support schemes being withdrawn and increased changes in employment status many people may find themselves in a different position to how they entered the pandemic. With robust levels of capital and liquidity, Together is well placed to help increasing numbers of customers to realise their ambitions and to play our part in supporting the UK’s economic recovery.”