LendInvest reports third consecutive year of profits and 133% revenue rise

Robust performance and growth sustained since year-end, including period post Brexit vote

London, 7 October 2016 – LendInvest, the UK’s leading online property lending and investing business, today reports strong growth across all key financial performance metrics for the third year in a row (ended March 2016).

Financial Highlights

In the twelve months to 31 March 2016:

• 133% increase in gross revenues* to £32 million (vs £14 million, FY 2015)
• £3.4 million profits* (vs £3.3 million profits, FY 2015)
• 84% increase in total annual lending to £320 million (vs £174 million, FY 2015)
• 165% increase in employee headcount to 90 full time staff (from 34, FY 2015)

The company also reports a strong start to its 2017 financial year with performance proving resilient to the uncertainty created nationwide by the UK’s decision to leave to EU in June 2016:

• Gross revenue for the first four months of the new financial year was 59% higher than for the same period last year
• Incoming platform investment and total lending volumes were 50% and 29% higher respectively in the three months since the Brexit vote, compared with the same period in 2016
• Stephan Wilcke (former executive chairman of OneSavings Bank) has joined as a senior adviser

Today, LendInvest manages almost £300 million on behalf of individual and institutional investors (consistently delivering returns upwards of 5% pa), and has lent in excess of £750 million to professional property investors and developers across the UK.

Christian Faes, co-founder and CEO of LendInvest, commented: “At LendInvest we’ve worked very hard to create a marketplace business that provides a great proposition for borrowers and a good investment for investors. However, we’ve also worked extremely hard to scale the business in a profitable, financially viable way.

“Lending and investing money is a serious matter. These financial results clearly spell out that LendInvest is a FinTech company that’s built on solid foundations, is financially stable, and is going to be around for the long haul. In light of the headwinds that the Brexit vote has caused for the UK’s economy, it’s been particularly rewarding to see customer demand for our products still growing and we look forward to building on this positive momentum in the next year.

“We may be growing fast, but we’re doing so sensibly. We have invested heavily in recruitment, technology development and underwriting expertise to keep our credit standards high and defaults low. Yet, despite the outlay of investment, we remain very well-capitalised with a balance sheet that’s well equipped for organic and opportunistic growth.”

Operational Highlights

LendInvest diversified its funding model during the year to maintain a stable funding environment, increase its lending capacity, and expand the options for investors to make attractive and reliable returns in the UK’s lower-for-longer interest rate environment. During the financial year:

• Funds managed on LendInvest’s online investment platform grew by 135% to £80 million. The platform now manages over £105 million
• LendInvest Capital, the company’s regulated funds management and capital markets division, reported a 50% increase in investment inflows into its Luxembourg-based flagship fund. The division now manages almost £100 million
• The company secured further committed institutional funding. The company now operates four bank funding lines, including a £40 million warehouse line from Macquarie

Demand from professional borrowers grew steadily over the year, enabling LendInvest to help fill a critical funding gap. During the period, the company:

• Lent more in the year than in the preceding 18 months (£320 million in FY16, versus £260 million between launch and end of FY15)
• Launched a dedicated development finance team that underwrote 14 deals in its first four months of operation to year-end

Faes added: “In this lower for longer interest rate environment, the continued search for yield remains ever more prevalent among investors of all types and we are working hard to be able to supply better access points to a much sought after asset class that have never before existed.

“Likewise, short-term borrowers and small-scale property developers remain vitally underserved by traditional lenders, creating a substantial market opportunity for agile non-bank lenders like LendInvest.”

— Ends —

Note to Editors

* During FY 2016, LendInvest Group fully converted the financial accounting standards followed by all group subsidiaries from UK GAAP to IFRS. At the time of reporting FY 2015 results in December 2015, only the parent company, LendInvest Ltd, had been converted to IFRS. As a result of the conversion to IFRS, gross revenue* and profitability figures for FY 2015 were revised in this year’s consolidated accounts from £15m and £3.1m respectively to £14m and £3.3m.

* Gross revenues include off-balance sheet managed assets.