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Ultimate Finance Group

  • BY: Andrew Hore |
  • POSTED: 10/03/2009 |

Ultimate Finance Group is finding no shortage of potential clients but it is maintaining its tight credit and risk controls.

The invoice discounting and factoring company financed £99.1m of client turnover in the six months to December 2008. Stripping out restructuring costs, profits improved from £133,000 to £140,000.

Small companies are becoming more nervous with banks - just like they did in the last recession. This is good news for Ultimate, which has experienced a 64% increase in enquiries. Ultimate is growing faster than the factoring market as a whole, which is growing at 9% a year.

Ultimate has taken on 25 new clients in the first two months of 2009. The new Tunbridge Wells office has started well and is already adding international business. Six new sales professionals have been recruited, which is a net increase of two. Ultimate is moving to a larger office in Manchester.

Chief executive Richard Pepler says that he is avoiding some sectors. These include construction, automotive and businesses with a retail customer base.

Ultimate still has £6.4m of its £18m bank facility with Lloyds TSB available for use. This facility lasts until March 2010.

At 5.5p a share, Ultimate is valued at £1.1m.

WH Ireland forecasts a rise in full year profits from an underlying £300,00 to £350,000. The shares are trading on a 2008-09 prospective multiple of less than five, falling to less than four times 2009-10 forecast earnings. 

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