LendInvest notches another year of profit

The platform’s originations almost doubled last year.

At the height of results season, leading property lending platform LendInvest has announced that the financial year ending 31 March 2018 was its fourth consecutive year of profitability, following significant lending growth.

Its loan originations came close to doubling, up 91 per cent to £536m. Revenues were also up, increasing to £53m for the year. Originations look set for further growth too, with lending capital growth of 94 per cent to £791m.

However, despite a surge in these key metrics, profits remain relatively modest at just £1.9m before tax for the period, up from £0.1m before tax the previous year, according to the firm’s gross management accounts. By IFRS standards, LendInvest recorded a similar £1.8m in profit last year, but made a loss of £1m in the preceding year (ending 31 March 2017).

The key difference between the two accounting standards is that the IFRS methodology does not factor in assets that are managed off-balance sheet – such as its Luxembourg fund – whereas the gross management accounts do. Both sets of accounts have been fully signed off by LendInvest’s auditors, BDO LLP.

By whatever standard, LendInvest’s performance for the period continues a sustained period of profitability – an unusual feat in fintech lending.

Other highlights for the business in 2017 include increasing its total homes funded by 229 per cent to 2,109 and securing the first £90m of a planned £500m retail bond programme on the London Stock Exchange.

Christian Faes (pictured), co-founder and CEO of LendInvest, said of the results: “As LendInvest continues to move towards the mainstream mortgage market, we are showing that the investment we’ve made in our proprietary technology is providing an unrivalled platform for growth. As we move into the Buy-to-Let (BTL) market, we’ve been able to leverage our brand within the specialist mortgage market, our distribution channels, and most importantly our technology, all of which give us a substantial edge. We have lent more BTL finance in the first few months since launch than we did during our first full four years in business.”

“LendInvest is proving that you can be a FinTech business that makes a substantial investment in building technology, uses that as a competitive advantage, and all the while builds a scalable and profitable business. We almost doubled the size of the business last year, with only a relatively negligible increase in our headcount, and importantly remaining profitable which we’ve consistently done for the last four years.”