Simply Asset Finance announces H1 2023 pre-tax profit of £3.2m
Simply Asset Finance, the specialist business lending provider, has announced H1 2023 profits of £3.2m. In a strong first half of the year, the business also increased its revenues to £24.8m and expanded its national reach with the opening of a new office in Liverpool.
The past five years have seen Simply Asset Finance’s compound annual growth reach 52%, which has enabled the business to expand its team by 17% year on year. The team has now grown to over 140 members in total, with ten new hires joining the company in the last month to further expand its reach.
With over 1,786 new agreements since January 2023, Simply Asset Finance has now funded over 32,026 assets for businesses across the UK, helping to finance over 6,800 customers. In the first half of 2023, it added £42 million to its loan book, a 10% increase on its previous half, illustrating the ongoing demand for its bespoke lending and technology for SME customers.
Simply Asset Finance’s ongoing growth has been greatly driven by its continued innovation and investment in its technological capabilities, which go hand in hand with its bespoke customer service. In 2022, the business completed the development and rollout of its new broker platform, an addition to its end-to-end digital platform, Simply Connect. Built from scratch by Simply’s in-house technology team, the new capabilities have been designed to give control and time back to brokers; automating processes and removing unnecessary laborious paperwork.
Testament to its successful growth and continued investment in its people and customer service, Simply Asset Finance was awarded ‘Best Auto or Equipment Finance Company to Work For’ and ‘Lender of the Year 2023’ at the AFC Summer Awards. The Awards also saw the business recognised as the highest climber in the Asset Finance UK 50 list, moving up 5 places from last year to now rank at number 27. Simply was also recently ranked in the top 20 of the FT1000’s list of Europe’s fastest-growing financial services businesses for the second year running, and in the top 12 of the UK’s fastest-growing financial services businesses respectively.
| Year end 31 December | FY 2017 | FY 2018 | FY 2019 | FY 2020 | FY 2021 | FY 2022 | H1 2023 |
| Cumulative origination | £37m | £158m | £318m | £473m | £714m | £1,019m | £1,180m |
| Gross loan book | £0.0m | £90m | £172m | £218m | £307m | £417m | £459m |
| Revenue | £0.7m | £4.1m | £14.5m | £20.7m | £29.9m | £38.2m
| £24.8m |
| Profit / (Loss) | £(1.6)m | £(5.4)m | £(2.8)m | £(3.1)m | £3.4m | £7.1m
| £3.2m |
| Total number of customers | n/a | 910 | 2,127 | 3,191 | 4,430 | 5,989
| 6,806 |
Mike Randall, CEO at Simply Asset Finance, said: “The strong growth of the business in the first half of 2023 demonstrates that Simply is continuing to fulfil the needs of SMEs across the UK. I can only thank the tenacity of our teams across the country who have been vital in us achieving this level of growth, and have helped set the business on this trajectory for the rest of the year.”
“Moving forward into the second half of the year, we are continuing to invest in our technology and our people to ensure we are delivering a high-level of service to our customers, and partners. The launch of our new office in Liverpool earlier this year is an exciting development for us, and will help us to further specialise our offering, while supporting the vital SME community in the North West and other regions across the UK.”
Stefan Wolvaardt, Simply Asset Finance CFO, said: “A £3.2m profit in the first half of 2023, alongside a significant increase in revenue, is a strong start to the year and is evidence of our ongoing business success. We’re proud to serve the 6,800 customers currently using Simply’s services, and with origination now reaching over £1.1bn we’re confident of our future growth.”