Aldermore – a new name with expansion plans

Absolute Invoice Finance, the specialist business finance firm, has re-branded as Aldermore Invoice Finance.

Founded in 2000, Aldermore Invoice Finance was formerly owned by Batley-based Cattles and known as Cattles Invoice Finance. It was bought by financial services private equity house AnaCap Financial Partners

in September 2009 and relaunched as Absolute Invoice Finance.

In November, the business was acquired by Aldermore Bank – another of Anacap's investee companies – in a move that increased the size of its funding pool.

Dave Jones, senior regional managing director of Aldermore Invoice Finance in Yorkshire, said the acquisition by Aldermore had enabled the business to take huge strides forward.

The Yorkshire operation, which is based in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire, has hired 10 more staff over the last year, taking the total employed there to 48.

Mr Jones told the Yorkshire Post: "The re-branding is the final closure from our links with Cattles. It will be two steps behind us."

Cattles is undergoing a major restructuring, which includes the winding down of its core Welcome Finance arm, to recoup money for creditors. In May, Cattles published its long-delayed results for 2008 which showed losses of 745m.

Mr Jones said he was optimistic about the prospects for Aldermore Invoice Finance.

He added: "The re-brand is the next kick-start. It was a good feeling announcing the re-brand to the staff. It became very real. We have been doing a lot of transactional activity, particularly in East Yorkshire.

"We expect to see a substantial increase in profitability this year and an increase in client numbers."

Altogether, 225 clients are managed by the Yorkshire region of Aldermore Invoice Finance.

Mr Jones added: "We think we will add around 180 clients over the next year as activity levels increase and the brand becomes familiar.

"However, the historic average industry attrition rate is 30 per cent, and over the last 18 months this figure has been higher.

"We are still seeing a lot of business failures and businesses that are experiencing cash flow problems. We can't determine market conditions and can't tell how many of our clients will fail.

"We are seeing a lot of migration of clients from the high street lenders. We think it will be 18 months to two years before the banks get back to anything like the situation they were in before their problems emerged."

Mr Jones stressed that Aldermore Bank, which is backed by AnaCap Financial Partners and Morgan Stanley Alternative Investment Partners, wasn't affected by historic bad debts.

Aldermore has lent more than 300m to SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) over the last year.

A spokesman said Aldermore was not dependent on the wholesale, securitisation or international capital markets and had not been involved in any "exotic" products that caused problems for other financial institutions.

Mr Jones said: "We have seen a 40 to 45 per cent increase in volumes at the Yorkshire office over the last 12 months. The businesses that have survived the recession are a lot more leaner and focused.

"While we expect to recruit more staff, we also expect operational efficiencies to come through. We have got the capital behind us to invest in the business, which is already palpable with the projects that are on the go."

Aldermore Invoice Finance operates from six regional operating centres across the UK, and has clients across a range of sectors.

Bank's launch

Aldermore Bank was founded in 2009, and has established eight regional SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) offices across Britain.

It was launched from a merger of Ruffler Bank and Base Commercial Mortgages. Aldermore's products include commercial mortgages on a range of property commonly used by SMES. It also provides asset finance and invoice finance for businesses.

Dave Jones, the senior regional managing director for Yorkshire with Aldermore Invoice Finance, spent 20 years with Yorkshire Bank before moving into the

sales finance industry. He joined Aldermore Invoice Finance, which was then known as Cattles Invoice Finance, in 2002.