West finance firm resilient as profits rise

BATH-HEADQUARTERED alternative finance provider Time Finance has seen its profits rise marginally amid the pandemic, despite revenues taking a dip.

The AIM-listed company reported revenue for the financial year ending May 2021 was £24.2m – down 17% from £29.2m in 2021. But profit before tax, exceptional items and share-based payments (PBTE) was up 3% to £3.1m.

The company also reported earnings per share of 1.98p – a rise of 13% on 2020.

Ed Rimmer, chief executive of Time Finance, said the firm was “well positioned” to take advantage of the post-Covid recovery.

“[Time Finance] is pursuing a clearly defined growth strategy,” he said.

“Fresh ideas are being brought into the organisation and the group is being repositioned under the Time Finance brand as a multi-product provider of lending facilities to SMEs, focusing on core own-book lending.

“Market conditions remain challenging as the overhang of government funding initiatives is still apparent; however, it is likely that demand for finance will increase again through the course of our financial year. We therefore look forward with a sense of cautious optimism.”

Time Finance said it had made a number of “key investments” in 2021, including:

A board restructure, with the appointment of Mr Rimmer as chief executive and Tanya Raynes as non-executive director;

Group-wide rebrand to Time Finance completed, bringing the group under a single, national brand;

Government-backed accreditations from The British Business Bank to provide Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) and Recovery Loan Scheme (RLS) to UK SMEs;

Continual focus on diversification and spread of risk, with largest sector exposure accounting for approximately 5% and the top 10 sectors less than 25% of the total lending book at May 31, 2021;

New business origination for the financial year was £103m (2019: £147m), a decrease of 30% attributable to the impact of the pandemic with the most significant driver of the reduction being brokered-on vehicle finance.

Time said that momentum in the first quarter of the current financial year was “steadily increasing”. It said it had also expanded its national sales presence to support UK firms access funding and had secured seven new business development and broker managers within its asset finance and invoice finance teams.

Mr Rimmer added: “The last year has come with its challenges but it’s thanks to the resilience and hard work of our teams that we have continued to support our clients and their businesses throughout what has been a difficult time.”