Together unveil latest financial results

These results come following the news that Gerald Grimes has been appointed as group chief executive designate which is effective from 6 April.

Together unveil latest financial results

Together saw its loan book reach a new high of £4.2bn, which is a year-on-year increase of 7.2%.

In its latest quarterly results, Together also reveals that average monthly loan originations in the final quarter of 2019 reached £205.8m which is an annual increase of 19.8%.

Weighted average LTV's of new originations remained steady at 58%.

Net interest margin was 6.3% for the quarter, which is down on earlier quarters in 2019.

This was due to competitive market conditions, redemption of higher yielding back-book loans, higher gearing and product mix changes according to Together.

These figures come following the news that Gerald Grimes has been appointed as group chief executive designate which is effective from 6 April.

Mike McTighe, group chairman of Together, said: “Together continued to achieve strong growth in new lending during the quarter, with the loan book reaching a new high of £4.2bn, driving robust increases in underlying profitability and cash generation.

“Average monthly loan originations were up 19.8% on the same quarter last year, while weighted average origination LTVs remained very conservative at 58.0% for new lending and 54.9% across the whole loan book.

"The group continued to deliver a strong financial performance, with underlying profit before tax up 17% on Q2 last year at £36.5m and cash receipts up 19.2% at £432.6m.

“We further enhanced our governance with the recent appointments of John Hooper to the board of our personal finance business and Gerald Grimes as group chief executive designate to add additional breadth and bandwidth of the executive team and to provide a clear succession plan.

"We continued to strengthen and diversify our funding during the quarter, completing our third public residential mortgage backed securitisation and upsizing our private revolving Lakeside securitisation to £500m.

"Earlier this month, we also successfully issued £435m of 4?% Senior Secured Notes, upsizing from the initial £385m to meet the significant levels of demand from investors.

“While lead indicators continue to be mixed, a recent pick up in business confidence following the UK general election result and the passing of the EU Withdrawal Agreement Bill by Parliament has led some economists to highlight possible early signs of a recovery in the UK economy.

"Unemployment is at its lowest level since the mid-1970s, wage growth has accelerated to its highest levels in a decade and the Bank of England’s Monetary Policy Committee has recently maintained UK base rates at 0.75%.

"However, the continued spread of the coronavirus and ongoing tensions between the US and Iran have contributed to financial markets remaining volatile.

"Despite this macroeconomic uncertainty, we continue to see strong demand from our customers and believe the group remains well placed to deliver on its growth plans.”