Renovo : Trading Update and Proposed Change of Name

Trading Update and Proposed Change of Name

H1 growth reflects early stages of transformation into a large scale, full service SME lender
Proposed new name - Inspired Capital plc

Renovo Group plc (AIM: RNVO), a leading provider of customer-focused financial solutions to SMEs, is pleased to provide a trading update for the six months ended 30 June 2014.

Growth across the product suite has been strong in the first half of the year and particular interest is being seen in the newer products.

*These figures are those of Ultimate Finance Group plc and are prior to its acquisition by Renovo but are shown here for comparative purposes.

Renovo has increased its number of clients by 24.7% to 1,085 and increased the total loans and other receivables by 27.6% to £48.6m, in comparison to 30 June 2013. 

Strong growth has been seen in our tailored offerings for construction, trade and retail finance.  These are relatively new products, designed to meet specific customer needs, and represent the Company's first steps in diversifying its range of SME lending products. As at 30 June 2014, Renovo has provided £9m of funding into its SME finance subsidiaries.  The cash has allowed the business to grow its lending to SMEs and to trial new products prior to them being leveraged by alternative debt funding, something that restricted lending whilst Ultimate Finance was an independent business. We continue to receive strong support from our core funding provider and see good interest from new potential funders.

Renovo has doubled its invoice finance and asset finance sales forces during the period and we anticipate that this increased presence in the marketplace will drive growth at an even greater rate in our 2015 financial year. 

We were very pleased during the period to have hired Brian Cole as CEO. Brian's expertise and experience, previously as CEO at the £500m turnover UK subsidiary of Capital One, has benefited the Company significantly and he has begun the process of recruiting world class talent to join the existing senior team, rebranding the business, expanding the sales and marketing functions and setting the future technology strategy

A further update on progress will be provided in the interim results, due to be released in September 2014.

Matt Cooper, Chairman of Renovo Group, commented: "We are pleased that our core business continues to show strong growth and it is very encouraging that the new products are seeing good demand.  With Brian joining as CEO in April 2014, our development of the team, brand, and infrastructure required to deliver growth, both inside this business and beyond, continues as planned."

Brian Cole, Chief Executive of Renovo Group, commented: "Our growth during the first half of this year reflects the early stages of the transformation of Renovo into a large scale, full service SME lender. We have made good progress against our stated strategy, launching diversified products and successfully doubling the invoice finance and asset finance sales force in order to seize the growth opportunities we see in the market over coming periods. We look to the future with confidence."

Proposed change of name and requisition of General Meeting

Renovo also announces its intention to change the name of the Company to Inspired Capital plc. The change requires shareholder approval and a Notice convening a General Meeting will be issued to shareholders today. The Company believes the new name is more representative of its current activities as opposed to those previously undertaken by Renovo.

The General Meeting will be held at 12pm on 5 August at the offices of Henderson Global Investors, 201 Bishopsgate, London.