Lending increases

DEMAND from professional landlords has boosted buy- to- let mortgage firm paragon Banking Group.

Amateur investors with one or two properties have traditionally made up 90pc of the industry – but a tax crackdown has made it less appealing and opened the door to large companies seeking extra market share. paragon said that its total lending rose 29pc to £1.9bn in the year to September 30, while profits were up 1.1pc at £144.8m.

Boss Nigel Terrington said that it was a solid set of results, against a wider shrinking of the buy-to-let market from £40bn to around £35bn. THOMAS Cook boss Peter Fankhauser took home a bonus of £ 837,000 last year, around £600,000 more than the year before.

It helped his total pay package reach £1.8m, with a basic salary of £711,000 and benefits of £67,000.

He got 77.1pc of the maximum bonus available based on the firm’s profits, cash flow and ‘customer at heart’ strategy. Swiss Fankhauser is married with three children.

He took over as chief executive in 2014 and has returned the company to profit.