Folk2Folk profits soar but headwinds remain
Peer-to-peer lending platform Folk2Folk saw its profits soar last year, underpinned by a strong property market and an “excellent” team.
However, managing director Roy Warren has cautioned that “significant headwinds” remain in the property lending market, and vowed to focus on building the platform’s credit skills to reduce the risk of defaults in the year ahead.
According to the company’s latest financial statement, Folk2Folk recorded profits of £1,969,560 for the year ending 31 January 2022 – up from a profit of £1,108,995 the previous year.
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Turnover also rose, from £3,425,548 in 2020 to £4,936,652 in 2021.
Warren credited the company’s performance last year to the strong property market and an “excellent and experienced portfolio team”.
“I believe our success of last year is down to our focused business strategy, our switched-on and motivated team and our loyal customers,” he said.
“Our team delivers ongoing portfolio management and an eager vigilance for early warning signs, which underpins our risk culture of ‘no surprises’ and means we’re not expecting a spike in defaults.”
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In the company’s financial statement, it warned that “there are significant clouds on the horizon” and said that external economic factors could impact the platform’s progress in 2022. In order to mitigate that risk, Folk2Folk has pledged to redouble its efforts to strengthen its credit skills to ensure that it makes well informed decisions.
“While we anticipate significant headwinds for the remainder of the financial year, with rising costs, inflation, and uncertainty in relation to the impact of the war in Ukraine, we do still see opportunities in the market and are determined to improve on our financial performance from last year despite these challenges,” added Warren.
“We are also placing additional focus on credit underwriting and portfolio management to mitigate these headwinds where possible.”
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