Listen to this article here
|
Property finance group Together, one of the largest UK non-bank lenders, has announced underlying profits before tax of £200.9 million.
The finance company, based in Cheadle, has today (Thursday, September 19th) published its annual results for the year to June 30th 2024.
The group’s loan book grew by 14.9% in the period, to £7.4 billion while increasing its average monthly lending by 7.1% to £249.6 million compared to the previous year.
Together, which was founded by Henry Moser in 1974, provides commercial and personal finance such as residential, commercial and buy-to-let mortgages, bridging loans, auction loans and development finance, often to niche markets and clients underserved by mainstream lenders.
Chairman Mike McTighe said:
“As we celebrate our 50th anniversary I am pleased to report that Together had another strong year, growing our loan book to a new high of £7.4bn while delivering a 22.8% increase in underlying profit before tax.”
Highlights for the year included the initiation of the group’s transformation project to deliver an improved back office and lending and servicing platform and a more streamlined journey for customers and brokers.
This month, Together announced that finance expert Richard Rowntree will be joining the business as CEO in early 2025, with Mr Moser taking on the new role of Executive Vice Chairman.
The business also successfully raised or refinanced more than £3.2 billion of funding during the year, including a £450m bond, five public securitisations and the group’s first development finance securitisation to support SME house builders across the UK.
In terms of customer satisfaction, the group maintained 75% five-star customer ratings, achieved CCA Global accreditation for customer experience and was awarded ‘UK Employer of the Year’ in its category by Investors in People.
The positive results come at a time of cautious optimism for the UK’s economic recovery as Labour highlights boosting growth as one of its key priorities.
Mr McTighe said:
“While inflation is now in line with the Bank of England’s target and interest rates are expected to fall gradually, economic growth is forecast to remain modest. Against this backdrop, we expect many more customers will be underserved by mainstream lenders and look to specialists, like Together, for support.
“We will continue to be there to help our customers realise their ambitions and to play our part in supporting the UK economy, as we have for the last 50 years.”