Mortgage Choice cash profits up 7% to $16 million
Listed mortgage broker Mortgage Choice has revealed 2011 full-year cash profits of $15.9 million, an increase of 7.4% on the $14.8 million achieved in the previous year.
On an IFRS (international financial reporting standards) basis, net profit after tax was $27.5 million is up 17% on $23.5 million achieved in 2010.
The sold result was achieved despite CEO Michael Russell calling the last year “one of the most demanding for the company’s brokers and staff in our 19 years of operation”.
The franchise group’s mortgage book rose 6% to $42.4 billion on the back of significant franchise network growth “during a period defined by the financial conservatism of consumers and businesses”.
It 523 brokers generated $9.9 billion in housing loan approvals.
“We are pleased to announce a 7.4% rise in cash profit, a 5.4% lift in franchise numbers, our group market share reaching 4.1% of all new home loans in Australia and our customer satisfaction rating averaging 92.3% for the year,” Russell says.
“We also saw stable productivity from our Mortgage Choice brokers, who average 58 loans each per year, and a doubling of the brokers in our aggregation arm, LoanKit.”
Russell says if mortgage conditions remain subdued for a number of years, its brokers are “well equipped to continue to run successful operations that concentrate on areas of growth located within both the home loan market and other realms of personal and commercial finance”.
“If interest rates hold steady into the 2012 calendar year, which is looking more likely, employment remains healthy and vendor discounting continues at this pace we could well see a second and third consecutive quarter of housing finance growth to finish off the calendar year,” he says.
