Together loan book grows by a third to £5.9bn in Q2 2023

According to its latest results, this is up from £4.4bn in Q2 2022 and up 3.6 per cent on the prior quarter of £5.7bn.

Average monthly lending came to £212.5m in the quarter, which is up 6.3 per cent on the same period last year but 26.5 per cent down on the previous quarter.

The firm reported an underlying profit before tax of £25.8m,  40 per cent down on last year’s figure of £43m and down by around 25 per cent on the previous quarter’s total of £34.7m. It said this was due to higher impairment charges.

Impairment charges increased due to ‘future macroeconomic uncertainty’

Together said that the impairment charge grew slightly from the previous quarter from 1.63 per cent to 1.85 per cent.

The firm said that this was due to “increased impairment provisioning” due to “future macroeconomic uncertainty. However, this is down 2.02 per cent in Q2 2022.

The company added that its weighted average index loan to value (LTV) was 53.4 per cent, which is in line with 51.6 per cent in Q2 2022 and 51.9 per cent in Q1 2023.

The lender added that arrears profile “remains benign” which it said reflected “robust loan book quality”.

Together delivers ‘robust performance’

Gerald Grimes (pictured), group CEO designate of Together, said: “Together delivered another robust performance in the period, against a backdrop of extreme macroeconomic uncertainty, growing the loan book to £5.9bn while controlling origination volumes, increasing rates and maintaining prudent LTVs.

“The group remained highly profitable and cash generative, and the successful launch of our £467m FABS warehouse facility in December added further strength and diversity to our funding.”

The report noted that as 31 December, the group had £1.3bn facility headroom and £344.1m, in immediately available liquidity.

Grimes continued: “We continued to deliver our strategic change agenda during the quarter, making further incremental progress on delivering the right experience for our customers and creating a more agile, efficient, and scalable platform.

“We also rolled out new training programmes to support growth and performance for all of our colleagues and made good progress against our sustainability targets and measures.”

He added that while inflation was showing signs of trending downwards and the pace of interest rate rises had slowed, some economists were forecasting the UK could enter recession during 2023.

He said: “This continued uncertainty may result in increasing numbers of people looking to specialist lenders for support. With a clear purpose, a proven and well-funded business model and a successful multi-cycle track record, we believe Together is well placed to help many more customers realise their ambitions.”