Bristol-based commercial finance firm Ultimate Finance has achieved record annual financial results as it continues to grow its client base.
The firm provided funds of more than £1.6bn to small and medium-sized businesses across the UK last year – up on £1.4bn in 2018 and £1.2bn in 2017. 
This equates to a 33.3% increase since 2017 – a sign according to Ultimate that its asset-backed offering fills a yawning gap in the UK’s lending market.
As a result, the firm’s loan book also ended the year at a new high of £265m– up 27.4% on2018.
Ultimate also said the growth came on the back of continued focus on strengthening relationships with introducers across the UK and another year of strong development of Ultimate Finance’s asset-based lending portfolio.
Highlights included:
- The average size of invoice finance deals more than doubled with facilities of up to £5m
- Asset finance hit a new annual high, with the loan book exceeding £55m
- The bridging finance loan book grew close to £40m, a year-on-year increase of 23.5%
Ultimate Finance CEO Josh Levy said: “Ultimate Finance prospered in 2019 against the backdrop of an unsettled year for many UK businesses.
“Uncertainty surrounding Brexit and the General Election were contributing factors to business investment falling in five of the last six quarters. However, it is encouraging to see business confidence returning. 
“In this context, I’m proud to announce another record-breaking year of lending for Ultimate Finance with over 1,000 new businesses supported by our funding solutions.
“Our flexible, solution-driven approach to funding and excellent customer service increasingly make us the funder of choice for businesses wanting to invest and thrive.”
Bradley Stoke-based Ultimate Finance Group was established more than 17 years ago and was acquired by US private investment firm Tavistock Group four years ago.
It has a range of funding packages tailored to meet the cashflow needs of UK SMEs and currently supports more than 2,500 clients throughout the UK and across a wide range of industries, sectors and stages of growth.
It has also become a founding signatory of the SME Finance Charter to demonstrate its “unwavering” commitment to facilitating growth for ambitious businesses in all market conditions.
“Our continued growth mirrors a trend of businesses becoming simultaneously more comfortable with alternative finance providers and moving away from traditional banks,” added Josh Levy. “This trend, along with the investment in developing our introducer relationships, present us with a big opportunity for 2020 to continue supporting more businesses around the UK.”
