LendInvest posts 133 per cent revenue rise

LENDINVEST has unveiled a whopping 133 per cent rise in full-year revenue to £32m and profits of £3.4m, shrugging off fears that Brexit-induced uncertainty would detract investors from the sector.

The peer-to-peer property lending platform, which also has its own investment funds, said on Friday that it had seen an 84 per cent increase in total annual lending to £320m and a 165 per cent rise in staff numbers to 90.

The London-headquartered firm, which lends money to professional property investors and developers, said that its performance had been resilient following the UK’s decision to leave the EU on 23 June 2016. Platform investment and lending volumes were 50 per cent and 29 per cent higher in the three months since the referendum vote, compared with the same period the previous year.

“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,” said co-founder and chief executive Christian Faes.

LendInvest’s bumper results are all the more marked in comparison with its peers. Fellow P2P platforms Funding Circle, RateSetter and Zopa have all posted losses in recent times.

“We may be growing fast, but we’re doing so sensibly,” said Faes. “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.”

LendInvest lent out £320m last year, almost double from the previous year, with investors receiving returns upwards of five per cent per year. The funds managed on its online investment platform grew by 135 per cent to £80m.

The company also announced that it has secured further institutional funding. It now operates four bank funding lines, including a £40m warehouse line from Macquarie.

“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,” said Faes.

“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.”