Advantage finance business up 23 percent in H1

Motor finance lending at Advantage was up 23% year-on-year, with the company writing approximately 3,000 contracts in the first half of the year, up from 2,500 in the first half of 2011

Subprime lender Advantage Finance and parent
company S&U have both recorded positive growth for the first
half of 2012.

Motor finance lending at Advantage was up 23%
year-on-year, with the company writing
approximately 3,000 contracts in the first half of the year,

up from 2,500 in the first half of 2011. The worth of an
average contract remained at around £5,000. The company’s capital
book, after provisions, stood at just under £60m.

Keith Charlton, director of Advantage, told
Motor Finance the company had continued to write business
in a sector which has seen a reduction in the number of other
lenders despite continued customer appetite for finance. “We’re
experiencing quite a healthy demand for our products,” said
Charlton. “We’ve found ourselves in a reasonably healthy
position.”

An interim statement from S&U in May this year praised the
group’s car finance operation and Charlton commented after the
recent results that Advantage was “looking to make a significant
contribution to the group”.

Meanwhile, the home credit arm of S&U,
approximately twice the size of Advantage by turnover and share of
group revenue at the start of the year, recorded 3% growth in
customers and 7% growth in collections. Overall,
financial leverage for the group dropped three percentage points
since last year to below 35%.

richard.brown@vrlfinancialnews.com