Ultimate Finance reaches £200m lending milestone

Asset finance has increased 61%, surpassing the £40 million mark for the first time and invoice finance has increased 27.5%.

The company also reported growth in its client base, with a 26% overall increase since the start of the year.

The number of bridging finance clients receiving funds from Ultimate Finance increased by 86%, while its asset finance client numbers grew by 42%.

Ron Robson, Ultimate Finance chief executive, said: “In a market that is often made overly complex with unnecessary jargon and confusing fee structures, our continued growth is testament to our uncomplicated approach to supporting SMEs.”

Robson said the company is investing in technology and customer service to make the customer journey “as easy as it can be”.

Ultimate Finance is now in its second phase for its growth plans following on from the acquisition in 2015 and Robson is expecting a strong second half of 2018.

The growth news comes at the same time as the company announces it has brought NatWest into its back-to-back syndicated invoice finance facility, alongside renewed commitments from Lloyds Bank and British Business Investments, a wholly-owned commercial subsidiary of the British Business Bank. This provides an additional £40m in funding taking the total facility to £125m, which complements Tavistock’s investment of over £100m to date.