Simply Asset Finance’s gross loan book rises to £480m

Simply Asset Finance has reported a gross loan book value of £480m for the full year 2023.

This is up from a total of £417m in 2022, and higher than the gross loan book value of £307m reported in 2021. Simply Asset Finance attributed this to providing borrowers with targeted funding. 

The lender issues finance to small and medium-sized businesses in the UK. 

The specialist lender has seen its gross loan book value grow steadily since its launch in 2017. 

The value of loans originated in 2023 came to £1.3bn, which was its highest figure to date and up from a total of £1bn the year before. 

Simply Asset Finance reported a profit before tax of £5.5m, down from £7.1m previously, and saw its revenue rise from £38.2m to £52.3m. 

It served 7,488 borrowers in 2023, up from 5,989 in the year prior. To date, Simply Asset Finance has helped to finance over 7,400 customers across the UK through 15,161 agreements. 

The lender has a team of 155 employees and extended its reach in June last year with the opening of its sales centre in Liverpool, which has seen £7m in advances across more than 100 deals so far. 

Continued growth at Simply Asset Finance

Mike Randall, CEO at Simply Asset Finance, said: “Another year on and the continued growth of the business only emphasises the hard work of our team at Simply, and the need for better access to business funding in the UK for our customers. We’re immensely proud of how far we’ve come as a business, and these results help to further cement our growth for the year ahead. We are working hard to build a solution, and framework that sets the standard for small business lending in the UK – one that ensures every SME can get the money they need, when they need it, to spur their growth.

“We’re seeing more and more signs of 2024 being a positive year for growth as SMEs demonstrate their resilience, business optimism is on the rise, and inflation is coming down. Our support of these firms is unwavering, and we are excited to see what the year ahead holds for the businesses so vital to our economy.” 

Stefan Wolvaardt, Simply Asset Finance’s CFO, added: “Taking into account a year of high interest and double-digit inflation, we’re incredibly positive about the profits we have achieved at a time when every business has faced hardships. Demand has shown no signs of slowing, and with our origination to date increasing to £1.3bn, businesses are clearly seeking to enable their growth in the year ahead, which we are here to help them achieve.”