Specialist asset-based lender Ultimate Finance provided funding of more than £1.5bn to SMEs across the UK and supported over 1,000 new clients to keep their business moving in 2020.
During a time when COVID-19 and national lockdown restrictions impacted almost every area of UK business, the funder saw a remarkable resilience in its client base during the survival and revival phases of last year.
The newly released figures show that Ultimate Finance finished the year with a 66% increase in new Bridging Finance funding and over 30% growth in the number of new Asset Finance facilities.
The asset-based lender’s portfolio highlights include:
- Ending the year with new record high Asset Finance loan book of £64m
- Ending the year with new record high Bridging Finance loan book of £65m
- Providing new funding facilities of £125m to over 1,000 new clients
- Delivering total funding advances to clients of £1.5bn
- Lending over £35m via their accreditation to the Government’s Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS)
Josh Levy, CEO of Ultimate Finance said, “We are proud to have worked with our introducers and partners to provide funding and support to clients in a year like no other. Through our accreditation to CBILS we have provided facilities to businesses who may not otherwise have been able to secure the funding they needed to keep trading through the pandemic restrictions.
Our team has clearly demonstrated that they can adapt to change whilst continuing to deliver outstanding service and I am confident that as businesses navigate 2021, we will continue to do so. We are proud of the high service standards we have maintained despite the many challenges and will continue to strive for improvements in the areas that matter most to our introducers and clients – speed, flexibility, and the quality of our personal service enabled by technology.
Access to liquidity will remain a problem for SMEs and whilst the various Government support schemes have helped mitigate the impact of reduced income and pressured cashflow, we are committed to playing a vital role in providing the working capital needed to support the ambitions and recovery of many SMEs. We believe our core funding solutions of Invoice Finance, Asset Finance and Bridging Finance are extremely valuable tools to support businesses through this year and beyond “
