Close Brothers Motor Finance saw little growth in their loan book for motor finance, with an increase of just 0.8% year-on-year to £1.72bn in January 2017, according to its preliminary half year results.
The average loan size of a motor finance product at Close Brothers as of 31 January 2017 was £6,000, with a typical loan to value ratio of between 75% and 85%, and maturity of 2-4 years.
Close Brothers’ income from banking rose 10% year-on-year in 2017 to £274m, and achieved a 13% increase in adjusted operating profit to £122.7bn over the same period.
Net return on its loan book was 3.7%, almost unchanged from the 3.6% realised the year before, and return on equity rose slightly to 23% from 25%, for the same period.
Across the organisation, adjusted operating profit increased by 21% to £134.2m year-on-year as of 31 January 2017. Retail finance, which includes motor finance, saw a 3% increase in profit over the same period, and 2.4% growth of its loan book over the six months to the end of January 2017.
Close Brothers claimed that they maintained a disciplined approach to lending, and that the UK motor finance market remained competitive.
Close Brothers Motor Finance was named Bank Owned Independent Finance Provider of the Year at the Motor Finance Awards in Frankfurt last week.
