Simply Asset Finance, the specialist business lending provider, has announced FY2023 profits of £5.5 million and revenues in excess of £52 million. As the business further expanded to support its small- to medium-sized business customers across the UK, its loan origination also grew to £1.3 billion to date.

Founded in 2017 by a team of asset finance specialists in response to the overly-complicated SME financing process, Simply Asset Finance is streamlining access to finance for UK SMEs. Through its market-leading technology and a dedicated team of experts, it delivers a digital path to finance for small and medium sized businesses across the UK – looking beyond the balance sheet to empower SMEs to realise their business potential.

The business has now grown to a team of 155 members and in 2023 further extended its national footprint, opening an additional sales centre in the business district of Liverpool which celebrated £7 million in advances in its inaugural year. The business also has on-the-ground experts operating from its offices in London, Glasgow and Belfast.

Since inception, Simply Asset Finance has helped to finance over 7,400 customers across the UK through 15,161 agreements. In 2023 its loan book grew by £63 million, a 15% increase year on year as it further helped to provide its customers with targeted funding.

Simply’s growth has been driven in part through its proprietary technology platform, ‘Simply Connect’, which provides its customers, broker panel and partners with end-to-end lending capabilities, providing best-in-class user interface, workflow and lease management. In addition to serving Simply’s own customers and broker partners, the technology is offered as a white-labelled solution and has been successfully integrated by two lending partners.

Mike Randall, CEO at Simply Asset Finance, said: “Another year on and the continued growth of the business only emphasises the hard-work of our team at Simply, and the need for better access to business funding in the UK for our customers. We’re immensely proud of how far we’ve come as a business, and these results help to further cement our growth for the year ahead. We are working hard to build a solution, and framework that sets the standard for small business lending in the UK – one that ensures every SME can get the money they need, when they need it to spur their growth.”

“We’re seeing more and more signs of 2024 being a positive year for growth as SMEs demonstrate their resilience, business optimism is on the rise, and inflation is coming down. Our support of these firms is unwavering, and we are excited to see what the year ahead holds for the businesses so vital to our economy”

Stefan Wolvaardt, Simply Asset Finance CFO, said: “Taking into account a year of high interest and double-digit inflation, we’re incredibly positive about the profits we have achieved at a time when every business has faced hardships. Demand has shown no signs of slowing, and with our origination to date increasing to £1.3 billion, businesses are clearly seeking to enable their growth in the year ahead which we are here to help them achieve.”