Specialist lender Together Financial Services has seen a 24.6 per cent growth of its loan book in the first three months of 2019 when compared with the previous year.
In its results published today (May 16) the lender reported its loan book had increased 6.8 per cent in the first quarter alone, from £3.25bn at the end of December to £3.47bn at the end of March.
Mike McTighe, group chairman of Together, said the firm had achieved a "solid performance" with strong lending volumes, particularly at low loan to value.
The group’s average loan originations — the bank’s new lending — remained in-line with the previous quarter at £169.7m, while the average loan to value taken out by clients was "conservative" at 58 per cent.
Together announced a pre tax profit of £31.4m, up slightly on the previous quarter’s £31.2m but an increase of 8.8 per cent when compared to this time last year.
Its net interest margin remained at 6.8 per cent, dropping from 7.1 per cent in the previous quarter and sitting seven basis points lower than the year before.
The group said this reflected the competitive market conditions and redeemed higher yielding legacy products.
Mr McTighe said the firm was seeing strong ongoing demand despite the ongoing uncertainty over Brexit.
He said: "We added further depth of maturity across our funding platform having successfully completed the refinancing of our Delta securitisation facility in March, increasing the size by £110m and extending the maturity to 2023.
"The UK’s economic outlook remains uncertain with the Brexit deadline extended until the end of October.
"Lead indicators are also mixed, with continued wage growth, unemployment at a 44-year low and the annual rate of growth in house prices remaining stable being offset partially by weaker consumer spending.
"Despite this, we are seeing strong demand and believe that Together remains well placed to deliver on our future growth plans."
imogen.tew@ft.com
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