Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance doubles lending balances
Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance has enjoyed an exceptional period of growth over the past 12 months, with lending balances more than doubling to £126.5m in 2017.
This is the second year in succession that lending has doubled, with the alternative finance provider funding nearly £2bn of client invoices since its inception in 2014. This places the firm in the top 10 independent providers of alternative finance in the UK.
Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance provides a full suite of flexible asset-based lending and invoice finance products to small and medium sized enterprises. The division operates nationwide with dedicated regional sales directors and client managers on the ground in each of the UK regions.
Notable transactions over the 12-month period include a £15m asset-based lending facility to Carpet & Flooring (Trading) Limited, one of the UK’s leading distributors of floor covering products, which will be used to make strategic acquisitions and support new branch openings.
The firm also provided a £2.3m finance facility to Twisted Automotive, a Yorkshire-based business that re-engineers new and used Land Rover Defenders. The funding was used to refinance the remainder of 240 vehicles purchased from the Defender’s last ever production run.
Listed on the London Stock Exchange since 2011, the wider Secure Trust Bank Group has also seen strong growth. Pre-tax profits rose to £25m in the last 12 months – an increase of 28.9 per cent on 2016 figures.
John Bevan, managing director at Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance, said:
“Doubling our lending balances two years in a row is a massive achievement, and is indicative of how far we have come as a lender. We’re now on our way to another significant milestone, having almost funded £2bn of client invoices, nearly £1bn of which have come in the last 12 months. But it’s not all about numbers; we’ve also increased our focus on completing quality deals and backing ambitious and talented management teams.
“As we continue to build our nationwide footprint, we are looking to establish a number of dedicated offices for the UK regions so we can serve SMEs across the country. As we already have sales directors across every local market, the foundations are set for us to scale up and become the nation’s leading provider of alternative finance.”