Simply Asset Finance surpasses £0.5bn loan book milestone

Simply Asset Finance, the specialist business lending provider, has surpassed a £0.5bn loan book milestone as demand for its bespoke SME lending and technology sees significant growth.

The milestone achievement comes in August following the business reporting its H1 results which saw £14 million added to its loan book and revenues of £29.1m achieved.

In a strong first half of the year, with 9,663 lending agreements live since January 2024, Simply Asset Finance has now funded over 22,109 assets for businesses across the UK, growing its reach to serve over 8,300 customers.

In the first half of 2024, Simply Asset Finance’s total cumulative loan origination also reached £1.4 billion, up from a total of £1.3 billion at the end of 2023.

Simply’s growth has been driven in part through its proprietary technology platform, ‘Simply Connect’, which provides its customers, broker panel and partners with end-to-end lending capabilities, best-in-class user interface, workflow and loan management.

In addition to serving Simply’s own customers and broker partners, the technology is offered as a white-labelled solution and has been successfully integrated by three significant lending partners.

In June, the business also announced it had received backing from Bank of America for a loan facility worth £120m. This will be used to grow its lending capabilities to UK SMEs by 30 per cent and increase its loan origination by around £100 million in the first year.

In recognition of the business’ commitment to industry innovation investment in its customer service, Simply was also presented with the Lender of the Year award for the second year running at the AFC Summer Awards, as well as improving its position in the Asset Finance 50 from last year, from 27 to 24.

Simply was also recognised for organising its charity football tournament in aid of Cancer Research (CRUK) earlier this year, winning the AFC Outstanding Achievement Award.

The business’ ongoing growth was also observed in the FT1000’s list of Europe’s fastest-growing companies for the third year running.

Year ended 31 December	FY 2017	FY 2018	FY 2019	FY 2020	FY 2021	FY2022	FY 2023	H1 2024
Cumulative origination	£37m	£158m	£318m	£473m	£714m	£1,019m	£1,328m	£1,485m
Gross loan book	£0.0m	£90m	£172m	£218m	£307m	£417m	£480m	£494m
Revenue	£0.7m	£4.1m	£14.5m	£20.7m	£29.9m	£38.2m	£52.3m	£29.1m
Profit / (Loss)	£(1.6)m	£(5.4)m	£(2.8)m	£(3.1)m	£3.4m	£7.2m	£5.5m	£3.0m
Total number of customers	n/a	910	2,127	3,191	4,430	5,989	7,488	8,340

Mike Randall, CEO at Simply Asset Finance, said: “Simply’s continued strong growth, exemplified by our achievements in the first half of 2024, underscores our commitment to meeting the evolving needs of UK SMEs.

“This is a huge milestone for us as a business, and is a testament to the dedication and expertise of our teams nationwide.

“Simply is committed to empowering UK SMEs to achieve their full potential. As we now look to the final half of the year, our recent partnership with Bank of America, and accreditation to the Growth Guarantee Scheme, only reinforces our dedication and ability to provide tailored and pointed support to the businesses that need it most. We are proud to support the backbone of the UK economy and look forward to driving growth and prosperity alongside our valued current and future customers.”