Bridford profits up
August 3rd, 2010 by Richard Aucock
Profits from the first half of 2010 have been dizzyingly high for one premium luxury car finance specialist.
The Yorkshire-based Bridford Financial Solutions secured £14.5m of funding for car dealers in the first six months of 2010, and is on course to beat last year’s record total of more than £25m of finance underwritten.
March saw the majority of this half-yearly profit collected, providing £3.5m of funding to both franchised and independent dealers and high-net worth individuals, which included 15 of the England World Cup squad, multi millionaires and several Lottery winners.
In the last two weeks alone, the Yorkshire-based firm arranged funding for some of the world’s fastest and most luxurious cars, which ranged from a £350,000 Porsche Carrera GT, to a Rolls-Royce Phantom worth £265,000.
Bridford Financial Solutions owner Tim Marlow said: ‘Although the economic climate has generally slowed spending, we are still seeing a high demand for luxury vehicles and our arrangements with some of the best lenders across Europe means we are able to provide the finance when other lenders can’t and this helps dealers’ sales.
‘Due to the high level of borrowing involved in the deals we transact, clients demand a certain level of product sophistication and we are able to offer flexible, tailor made packages to meet their needs that are simply not available from high street lenders.’
It is also thought that the company’s success is attributed to a series of high-profile contracts it has with leading national car dealerships, including the likes of Ferrari, Aston Martin and Rolls Royce, and also due to the launch of its new car finance calculator.
Called The Car Dealer Finance calculator, the system uses a secure server to protect data and provides access to instant quotations that dealers can use for existing finance providers. The calculator also has the added benefit of making considerable time savings. By avoiding the need to telephone through for quotes and taking proposals manually, the calculator increases the speed and accuracy of underwriting decisions.
By James Batchelor