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Mortgage Choice has delivered a record profit and settlement result, while continuing to expand the non-broking share of its business.
The group delivered a cash net profit of $20.1 million for the 12 months to 30 June 2014, which was up 27.1 per cent on the previous year.
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The underlying result, which excluded proceeds from the sale of LoanKit, jumped 18.6 per cent to $18.7 million.
Mortgage Choice’s loan book rose 4.6 per cent to $47.4 billion, although its share of the home loan market fell from 3.95 per cent to 3.87 per cent.
Total settlements climbed 18.1 per cent to $10.4 billion and half-year settlements per broker rose from 31 to 35.
Franchise numbers grew from 395 to 405, while the average upfront commission of Mortgage Choice brokers increased from 0.61 to 0.63 per cent.
The earnings of Mortgage Choice’s broking business grew 9.7 per cent, although its share of group revenue fell from 93 to 90.5 per cent.
Diversified products increased their share from 2.4 to 3.2 per cent, comparison website Help Me Choose grew from 2.4 to 2.6 per cent and the financial planning business expanded from 0.1 to 1.6 per cent.
Financial planning is forecast to turn a profit on a monthly basis during 2014/2015, with the number of advisers expected to rise from 33 to 60 during that time.
Chief executive Michael Russell said Mortgage Choice’s annual results had far exceeded expectations.
“We have embraced the opportunities that the strong market has presented us with and managed to deliver some of our best financial results to date,” he said.
“In addition, we continue to grow and evolve our diversified business and are now well on our way to becoming a very successful diversified financial services player.”
Chief financial officer Susan Mitchell said diversification would play a key role in ensuring the long-term financial health of Mortgage Choice.
“I think that’s probably the main strategy to keep delivering the profits that we have over the past year – to ensure that everything isn’t coming just from mortgage broking,” she said.
[Related: GFC made us stronger, says Mortgage Choice]
