Pre-tax profits at Hampshire Trust Bank in the UK nearly doubled to £9.9 million during 2017, with every area of the business reporting growth, including asset finance.
The company reported pre-tax profits up from £5.5 million for 2016, or up from £4.4 million for continuing activities.
Continuing activities excludes commercial finance asset-backed lending, such as invoice finance, a market the bank withdrew from in 2016 as it no longer met its criteria for strong risk adjusted returns and sustainable growth.
Overall, the bank’s asset finance loan book increased to £154.1 million from £112.1 million in 2016, including a 51% increase in the block discounting loan book from £41.7 million to £62.9 million.
Lending assets at the specialist bank increased by 36% to £632.3 million (2016: £463.5 million) and customer deposits by 14% to £596.3 million (2016: £523.3 million).
Following his appointment in April, the bank’s new chief executive officer, Matthew Wyles, promised continued growth.
He said: “The bank delivered a strong financial performance in 2017 with solid growth across the board. Whilst obviously our business needs to grow further, we will continue to focus on ensuring that this growth is controlled and sustainable.
“Central to our mission is to deliver consistently positive customer experience and outcomes. To this end we will invest relentlessly in our infrastructure, processes and technology to ensure that the business is standing on a stable, flexible and scalable platform.”
During last year, the bank’s total assets increased by 22% to £742.3 million (2016: £606.7 million) and originations increased 21% to £478.3 million (2016: £396.6 million).
