02 March 2023

Funding Circle Holdings plc (“Funding Circle”) today announces results for the year ended 31 December 2022.

“We’ve made good progress against our medium-term strategy, expanding our reach in distribution and depth in products. We introduced lending as a service in the US, and expanded our product set through the launch of super prime loans in the US and near prime loans in the UK. We have continued to see strong engagement with FlexiPay — so our customers can now not only borrow, but pay and spend with Funding Circle for the first time.

"I’m really pleased with how the business reacted to the evolution of the economic environment and transitioned back to commercial lending, with government schemes phasing out in 2022. Overall we delivered a solid financial performance. We were prudent in our lending in 2022, and will continue to be whilst conditions remain challenging — as expected in the UK in 2023, where we have pushed out our 2025 income targets by a year. We're confident in the US and are excited about new FlexiPay growth over the medium term. Having built strong foundations to deliver against the plan, we expect to double Group income over the next three years."

Lisa Jacobs

CEO

Executive Summary:

  • Following a period of significant market uncertainty, Funding Circle has proven resilient through change, delivering a solid financial performance in FY 22 as government loan schemes were phased out.
  • Loan returns remained robust and attractive with upgraded returns for several cohorts.
  • Continued institutional investor demand to fund loans with new forward flow agreements in the UK and US.
  • In 2022, lending through Funding Circle contributed £6.9bn to UK GDP, supported 106,000 jobs and contributed tax revenues of £1.4bn to the UK economy.[1]
  • Customer satisfaction remained strong with Group NPS at 77 and a UK Trustpilot score of 4.6. In the UK it takes only six minutes to complete an online application with an instant decision for 70% of applications.
  • Good early progress made against the three strategic pillars of our medium-term plan:
    • Attract more businesses: two Lending as a Service (“LaaS”) partnerships in the US;
    • Say yes to more businesses: expanded customer segments to super prime in the US and near prime in the UK;
    • #1 in new products: tripled FlexiPay transactions from H1 to H2; launched FlexiPay card in beta.
  • Our balance sheet remains a strategic asset, with net assets of £284m, including cash of £178m.
  • We have introduced guidance for 2023 and medium-term guidance is updated.
    • UK Loans reflects the challenging economic environment in 2023 pushing back 2025 targets by one year.
    • US Loans guidance for 2023 shows strong momentum and medium-term guidance is unchanged.
    • The significant progress we’ve made on FlexiPay means we have outlined our expectations for the first time, including a step up in investment in 2023.
  • Now including FlexiPay, we target a doubling of Group total income by 2025.

Financial Performance:

 

2022

2021

 

£m

£m

Originations

1,481

2,296

Loans under Management (LuM)

3,743

4,457

Operating income

131.4

165.5

Net investment income[2]

17.3

41.4

Total income

148.7

206.9

Fair value gains

4.8

28.6

Net income

153.5

235.5

AEBITDA[3]

6.8

91.8

Operating (loss)/profit

(14.7)

64.2

(Loss)/profit before taxation

(12.9)

64.1

Cash

177.7

224.0

Net assets

284.0

288.0

 

Financial Summary:

  • Originations of £1.5bn (2021: £2.3bn) down 35% year-on-year but in line with expectations following the peak of the government-guaranteed loan schemes in H1 21.
  • Both H1 and H2 22 originations up on H2 21, but reduced in H2 22 from H1 22 following credit tightening in response to the more challenging UK economic environment.
  • Loans under management of £3.7bn (31 December 2021: £4.5bn) down 16% following anticipated early repayments of CBILS loans in UK and PPP loan forgiveness in US.
  • Operating income was £131.4m (2021: £165.5m) down 21% against the high levels of income from government-guaranteed loan schemes in 2021. 2021 also included £2.1m of deferred PPP revenue.
  • Investment income was £17.3m (2021: £41.4m) down by 58%, as expected, as investments have either been sold or amortised down.
  • Fair value gain of £4.8m (2021: £28.6m gain) reflects continued positive revaluations for improved underlying credit performance.
  • AEBITDA of £6.8m (2021: £91.8m) and operating loss of £14.7m (2021: profit of £64.2m) reflect the reduction in net income following the closure of the government-guaranteed loan schemes.
  • Net assets remain healthy at £284.0m (31 December 2021: £288.0m), including cash balance of £177.7m (31 December 2021: £224.0m), of which £165.7m (31 December 2021: £199.4m) was unrestricted.[4]

Operating and Strategic Summary:

  • We are delivering against our medium-term plan which brings significant growth opportunities in a large addressable market:
    • In March 2022, we announced our medium-term plan to transform Funding Circle into a multi-product platform, serving a direct and embedded audience.
    • We are focused on enabling SMEs to borrow, pay and spend.
    • A year into this plan, we are delivering against our strategic pillars:
      • Attract more businesses: strengthening existing distribution channels and expanding into new embedded and intermediated channels to enable more businesses to reach us
        • Launched two Lending as a Service pilot partnerships, with Pitney Bowes and DreamSpring in the US.
        • Developed our distribution partnerships in UK and US.
        • Launched our first sports sponsorship with Premiership Rugby to drive brand awareness and consideration.​​​​​
      • Say yes to more businesses: serving more businesses through an expanded set of personalised Funding Circle products and further integration with third party lenders
        • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Expanded US Loans proposition to serve super prime businesses.
        • Expanded UK Loans proposition to include near prime lending.
        • Increased Marketplace originations with lending up 24% y-o-y.​​​​​​​
      • #1 in new products: using our capabilities to enter new markets where we can develop market-leading products
        • SME B2B payments represents a new major market opportunity.
        • FlexiPay rolled out to additional customer segments during 2022, with strong growth trajectory and high customer engagement: >3x growth in cumulative transaction value H1 22 to H2 22; ~£60m total transactions in FY 22 (£3.5m FY 21); > 2,000 active accounts at end FY 22 (c.250 FY 21); >20,000 transactions to date; 1.4 transactions per month per active customer.
        • FlexiPay card launched in beta at the end of 2022.

Outlook:

We have introduced guidance for FY 23, updated our medium-term guidance for FY 25 and included FlexiPay guidance for the first time, as shown below.

 

FY 23

 

Medium Term (FY 25)

 

Expectation of challenging UK economic environment in FY 23

 

Group to double total income by FY 25 (incl. FlexiPay);
Prior UK medium-term guidance delayed by one year[5]

 

UK and US Loans

FlexiPay

 

UK Loans5

US Loans

FlexiPay

Total income

£150m - £160m

Continued momentum in US, broadly flat in UK

Over £10m

 

At least £175m

 

 

At least £70m

At least £50m

AEBITDA

£0-10m

£(10-20)m

FY 23 investment into FlexiPay, AEBITDA loss dependent on speed we choose to scale

 

Margins of 25-30%

AEBITDA
positive

AEBITDA
positive

 

Analyst presentation:

Management will host an analyst and shareholder presentation and conference call at 9:30am UK time (GMT), on Thursday 2 March 2023, including an opportunity to ask questions.

To watch and listen to the webcast, with the opportunity to submit written questions, please use this link to register and gain access to the event.

For conference call access, with the opportunity to ask live questions, please dial +44 33 0551 0200 or +1 786 697 3501. Quote Funding Circle Full Year Results if prompted.

An on-demand replay and transcript will also be available on the Funding Circle website following the presentation.

Investor relations and media relations:

Funding Circle Investor Relations

Morten Singleton (+44 7736 297 929)

ir@fundingcircle.com

Funding Circle Media Relations

Abigail Whittaker (+44 7989 876 136)

press@fundingcircle.com

Headland Consultancy

Mike Smith / Stephen Malthouse (+44 20 3805 4822)

About Funding Circle:

Funding Circle (LSE: FCH) is a lending platform for SME borrowers. Established in the UK in 2010, and now the leading lending platform to SMEs, the Group also has a material and growing presence in the US. Globally, Funding Circle has extended more than £15bn in credit to c.135,000 businesses.

For SME borrowers, Funding Circle provides an unrivalled customer experience, delivered through its technology and data, coupled with a human touch. Its solutions continue to help customers access the funding they need to succeed.

For institutional investors, Funding Circle provides access to an alternative asset class in an underserved market, and delivers robust and attractive returns.


[1]Funding Circle research in partnership with Oxford Economics.

[2]Net investment income comprises investment income less investment expense.

[3]Adjusted EBITDA (“AEBITDA”) is an alternative performance measure and represents operating profit/(loss) before depreciation and amortisation, share based payment charges, associated social security costs, foreign exchange gains / (losses), and exceptional items. A reconciliation between AEBITDA and operating profit/(loss) is shown in the Business Review.

[4]Unrestricted cash refers to total cash less cash that is restricted in use. The restricted cash is cash that is not available for general use by the company as it is held within investment vehicles and is payable to third parties.

[5]Previous UK FY 25 guidance of total income £220m and AEBITDA margins of 30-35%.