Group sales and marketing director of Reward Finance Group, Nick Smith, has been appointed to the role of managing director of its Manchester office.
With over 25 years’ experience in the SME finance sector, Smith joined Reward Finance Group in 2016, and became a shareholder a year later.
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Reward said it had completed 21 deals in December which released £6m of funds to SMEs.
Nick Smith, said: “The Manchester office has had a significant impact in the region from day one. We wanted to show people we meant business in the North West and we have been expanding our presence through several key appointments in the last 12 months in both sales and operations.
“Our combination of fast and flexible funding has been readily embraced by our new and existing introducers resulting in a significant contribution to the group’s bottom line and the expansion of the Manchester office. We are now managing £17.5m of facilities for our North West customers, which is a great effort from a standing start and I see significant opportunity in the coming years. The fact we did so many deals leading up to Christmas, when many were winding down, is further testament to our can do attitude.
“Building on these strong foundations I am looking forward to leading the team in spreading the net even wider by increasing our awareness and reputation among additional introducers and SMEs in the region.
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By GlobalData“We will be sending out a clear message that we have the money to lend and we will do all we can to help businesses succeed by finding the right solution to their funding needs.”
In July 2018, Reward Finance Group received an additional £10m investment from Foresight Group to fund its business finance, trade finance and invoice finance products, bringing the total investment to £50m.
Founded in 2011, Reward Finance forms 75% of Mettle Investments, a financial services company which is quoted on the South African stock exchange.
It grew its loan book to £53m (£60m) in the 12 months ending February 2018, an increase of 29% on the previous year.
Fee and interest income rose from £7.5m to £9m. Operating profit before tax totalled £4m.
