31st Oct 2019 12:26
(Alliance News) - Orchard Funding Group PLC on Thursday posted higher annual profit as its overall volume of lending improved.
The finance company, which focuses on the insurance premium finance and the professions funding market, said pretax profit rose in its financial year ended July 31 to GBP2.0 million from GBP1.9 million.
Total revenue rose 7.8% to GBP5.5 million from GBP5.1 million. Chair Gary Jennison said this was "driven by a continued increase in overall lending volumes", which increased by more than 6% to GBP73.0 million and "fed through" to the overall revenue increase.
The company's proposed final dividend is 2.0 pence per share, giving a total of 3.0p per share for financial 2019, flat from financial 2018.
A key consideration for the firm going forward is the acquisition of a banking licence. Orchard Funding had considered purchasing a business that already had a banking licence, but was put off by the risk of buying a bank with a legacy loan book. As such, the firm is not "refreshing" is banking documents and intends to re-submit an application in its current financial year ending 2020.
Chief Executive Ravi Takhar said: "We have developed and implemented our own IT system to give direct benefit to the business and enable us to test adjacent markets to increase our lending in those areas. We believe we are well placed to obtain a banking licence, which will significantly enhance our ability to grow in the future. Our exciting future is all due to the commitment and hard work of our staff who provide excellent service to our valued customers and the support of our shareholders, to whom we give many thanks."
Shares in Orchard Funding were untraded at 76.50 pence in London on Thursday at midday.
By Anna Farley; [email protected]
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