Hitachi Capital (UK) profits rise as business units expand

Hitachi Capital Consumer Finance, which includes retail, motor and personal loans, generated profit before tax of £72.8 million, or 62.5% of group profits. As one of the top 10 largest lenders in the country, the business unit lent more than £2.3 billion to more than 700,000 customers during the year and has 20% market share in retail point-of-sale finance.

Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions, which provides vehicle funding and fleet management services, generated profit before tax of £24 million and now operates more than 67,600 vehicles on behalf of customers.

Jon Lawes, managing director of Hitachi Capital Vehicle Solutions, said: “The vehicle sector is going through a period of unprecedented change, with new technologies, environmental legislation and changes to vehicle tax making the role of fleet managers more complex.

“Understanding this changing landscape and focussing on the future needs of the market is essential and over the past year, we have made significant investments in IT to ensure that we continue to deliver a market-leading customer experience.”

Hitachi Capital Business Finance saw pre-tax profit rise 4.9% to £21.4 million, while its asset portfolio grew to more than £1 billion. During the year, the business became the first funder to offer the British Business Bank’s Enterprise Finance Guarantee for Asset Finance.

Gavin Wraith-Carter, managing director of Hitachi Capital Business Finance, said: “We know that lending to businesses continues to be a challenge, however, manufacturing is in our DNA and our results demonstrate real trust from our business customers. Over the past year we have looked to offer a more diverse range of products to appeal to a wider customer base, developing our direct-to-market asset finance, business loan and SME hire purchase services, to complement our existing relationships with brokers.”

Hitachi Capital Invoice Finance generated record new business levels with an 18% increase in client numbers, although a significant investment in technology led to it recording a loss of £2.1 million for the full-year.

Last year, Hitachi Capital European Vendor Solutions was established as a dedicated business unit with a branch office in the Netherlands to support expansion into European markets and provide vendor finance solutions to Hitachi and Mitsubishi group companies. It wrote £242 million of business in 2017/18 and is active in 12 European countries.

Robert Gordon, CEO of Hitachi Capital (UK), said: “These are a strong set of results and are testament to the hard work and dedication of our teams throughout the UK and Europe.

“Hitachi Capital (UK) is now ranked among the fastest growing financial services firms in terms of sales growth, while our profitability makes us one of the top performers not only in the industry, but also when compared to some of the UK’s biggest and most well-known companies.

“It’s particularly pleasing to demonstrate consistent, long-term growth within a challenging and competitive sector, and against a backdrop of general economic uncertainty.

“The processes, systems and strategies we’ve put in place provide a solid foundation for continued growth in the years to come.”