Academy Leasing drive record revenues and continued profitability
Academy Leasing (“Academy”), the Warrington-based asset and vehicle finance provider, is delighted to report record revenues and continued profitability in the financial year to 31 May 2019 as part of the 1pm Group of companies.
The Group has achieved revenues of £31.8m, an increase of 6% from £30m in 2018 off the back of an 13% increase in new business originations to £161m. The firm also delivered record Profit before Tax of £8m.
Academy is delighted to have contributed towards the Group’s overall performance. The year has seen some significant successes including a marked investment in strengthening the team with some high-profile appointments most notably that of Carol Roberts as head of asset, who brings a wealth of experience and strength to the leadership team. Carol will work alongside Mark Burgess as head of vehicles, as they look to achieve their ambitious growth strategies over the coming years. Together, their commitment to provide their broker communities and client base with an exceptional service and fulfil growth is at the top of their agenda. Recent initiatives have included strengthening their presence in the North of the country, with the appointments of Stuart Berry as broker manager and Ian Kavanagh as business development manager whose focus will be to continue building awareness of the solutions they offer to the market.
The firm also has benefitted from the Group’s investment in restructuring and strengthening their senior management teams. In the financial year the group has made several high-profile appointments including Lorraine Neyland as head of risk. With a focus on improving the use of technology in order to deliver simpler ways of doing business, David Jones was appointed as head of IT to support both the delivery of specialist products and bring greater benefits to all Group companies. Complementing this, the Group have been ‘highly commended’ for the Use of Technology for Service Excellence at the Leasing World Service Excellence Awards.
Commenting on Academy’s performance, Carol Roberts, said: “We are delighted to announce the latest financial results, which are testament to the Group’s dedication to evolve and deliver growth. We recognise the importance of providing access to finance to ensure long-term sustainable growth for the UK businesses. Working together, we can respond quickly to financial requirements, providing British businesses with bespoke funding solutions through our multi-product offering.”
1pm’s strategy is to focus on providing or arranging the finance UK SMEs require to fund their businesses and arranging vehicle and property-backed finance for consumers. The multi-product range for SMEs includes asset, vehicle, loan and invoice finance facilities. The Group operates a “hybrid” lending and broking model enabling it to optimise business levels through market and economic cycles.
Ed Rimmer, chief operating officer, added: “In what has remained uncertain prevailing business conditions, we are delighted to be reporting continued year-on-year growth. The results demonstrate the strength of our market position, our multi-product offering and our flexible approach to providing British businesses with the finance solutions necessary for growth.”
