Orchard Funding Group

Orchard Funding Group, through its wholly-owned subsidiaries Bexhill and Orchard, is a finance company which specialises in insurance premium finance and the professional fee funding market. The Group is profitable, having lent £45.6 million in the 12 months to 31 July 2014 and £24.0 million in the six months to 31 January 2015. On an aggregated basis, the Group generated profit before tax of £1.0 million for the 12 months to 31 July 2014 and £662,000 for the six months to 31 January 2015. The Group provides finance to clients of insurance brokers to spread the cost of their insurance premiums and to clients of professional firms in order to spread the costs of their professional fees, typically over 10 months. All finance provided by Orchard Funding Group is guaranteed by the introducing professional firm or insurance broker. Therefore, the Directors believe that the finance provided by the Group is of high quality given no arrears or losses on the lending book of the Group over the last seven years. There are over 3,800 insurance broker firms in the UK regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority. Based on figures extrapolated from the largest lenders in the insurance premium finance market, the Directors estimate that the insurance premium finance market is currently worth over £8.5 billion and over the next five years it is expected by management to grow to over £11.6 billion per year. The Group currently has contractual relationships with over 100 insurance brokers. There are over 37,000 accountancy firms in the UK according to data published by the Annual Survey of the Office of National Statistics. There are over 300,000 members of the seven UK accountancy bodies according to the Financial Reporting Council. The Directors estimate that the working capital requirements of the accountancy profession are over £3 billion per year. The Group currently has contractual relationships with over 400 accountancy firms. The Group has been trading since 2002 and operates an efficient business model, with 11 experienced staff in addition to the Directors. The Group has developed its own bespoke software, the Orchard Funding Management ("OFM") system, to enable it to conduct day-to-day funding operations. The software is proven, having been used by the Group for over eight years. The Group was shortlisted as finalist for "Business Partner of the Year 2013" by Insurance Times and shortlisted "Service Provider of the Year 2013" by British Insurance Awards.