1pm acquires vehicle lease book for £1.6m

Independent provider of finance facilities for the small-to-medium enterprise sector, 1pm, announced on Thursday that it has acquired a book of receivables for £1.6m cash on completion through its wholly-owned subsidiary Academy Leasing.

The AIM-traded company said the book comprises around 1,000 finance leases with SME customers for vehicle fleet equipment, and carries a gross receivable value of £2.03m with an effective yield of 17%.

Prior to the acquisition, Academy was providing a debt collection service on the book, and so is operationally familiar with the underlying customers, assets and lease agreements.

1pm’s board said acquiring the book provides Academy and its other recently-acquired subsidiary, Bradgate Business Finance, with the opportunity to cross-sell contract hire, lease and hire purchase of fleet and commercial vehicles into a new customer base.

The purchase consideration was financed entirely through headroom in Academy’s block funding facilities, the board confirmed.

"As well as adding to the Group's lease portfolio, generating additional cash and profit over the next three years, this acquisition provides a great opportunity to introduce our existing product range to a new group of customers,” said 1pm chief strategic officer Mike Nolan.

Group CEO Ian Smith said the cross-selling leverage that can be pursued as a result of the earnings-enhancing transaction is demonstrative of the added value of 1pm’s acquisition strategy.

"The board is pleased to have completed this transaction in the current financial year as part of its intent to build a significant asset finance and business loans group through a combination of strong organic growth and carefully selected acquisitions,” Smith added.