(Alliance News) - Funding Circle Holdings PLC said on Thursday it delivered "excellent progress" in 2021, swinging to a pretax profit and increasing its loans under management.
The London-based commercial lender swung to a pretax profit of GBP64.1 million in 2021 from a loss of GBP108.1 million the previous year.
Loans under management rose 5.8% to GBP4.46 billion from GBP4.21 billion year-on-year. Funding Circle said this was driven by strong origination performance in the UK during the year, especially in the first half.
Total income fell 6.8% to GBP206.9 million from GBP222.0 million while fee income - the company's operating income - rose 6.3% to GBP165.5 million from GBP155.7 million.
This was driven by strong originations, record loans under management, cost actions and the quality of underwriting coming through, the company explained.
Looking forward, the company said it expects operating income between GBP145 million to GBP155 million as demand begins to normalise. It expects investment income to continue to decline. In 2021, investment income fell 38% to GBP41.4 million from GBP66.3 million.
As a result, Funding Circle expects total income to be between GBP155 million to GBP170 million in 2022.
Chief Executive Lisa Jacobs said: "Our focus for the last two years has been on profitable growth and today's results highlight the excellent progress we have made. I am particularly proud to announce AEBITDA of GBP92 million and GBP64 million of operating profit, exceeding our previous guidance.
"We are in a strong position as a business and as we look ahead to the rest of 2022 and beyond, there is a bright future ahead of us. A decade of R&D is now coming to fruition as we begin to empower small businesses to not only borrow, but pay and spend as well."
Shares in Funding Circle were up 2.8% at 74.71 pence on Thursday morning in London.
By Heather Rydings; heatherrydings@alliancenews.com
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Funding Circle (FCH)