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The finance broking and aggregation arm of the asset finance group saw “record volumes” in assets financed for the half-year ending 31 December.
COG has reported its broking and aggregation businesses delivered a 9 per cent lift in net assets financed in 1H23 (compared to the previous corresponding period), bringing total volumes in the half to $3.4 billion.
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On a like-for-like basis, it grew by 23 per cent.
The arm includes COG Aggregation, Platform Finance, Centrepoint Finance, Linx Australia Group and QPF Finance Group.
They delivered $3.6 million of revenue growth to the group over the half – taking it to $135.1 million before tax – which the group said included organic growth and strong performance from the novated lease business and contribution from acquisitions.
Head of COG Aggregation Mark Rayson said the financial results “reinforce the continuing appetite for asset finance” in spite of tightening supplies and a higher interest rate environment and demonstrate the resilience of the sector.
“Our network of brokers outperformed the most recent quarterly CAPEX data from ABS, which showed a 3.4 per cent increase in equipment, plant and machinery capital expenditure, compared with the previous corresponding period.”
Furthermore, COG’s strategic partnerships business, Platform Finance, reported a 14 per cent volume growth in the six months leading to 31 December in what is to be an ongoing trend as its broker base further diversifies outside of their core mortgage businesses, according to head of strategic partnerships, Damian Mantini.
“We continue to leverage our strong and significant broker market share in asset finance and are proud to have an estimated 21 per cent market share of broker-originated asset finance lending.
Mr Mantini added that even though cost-of-living pressures and rising interest rates are starting to impact the consumer lending side of the business, enquiry remained “solid”.
In terms of the group’s future outlook, COG said it plans to continue to “invest in people and technology”, aligning with its current growth strategy and to continue to meet customer demand.
Those plans include increasing its relationship and support staff as part of the merger to create COG Aggregation, more investment in ‘behind-the-scenes’ operations and compliances resources in order to support funders and brokers, and the introduction of an in-house IT development team over the past 12 months.
Mr Rayson added: “We recognise that technology is the solution to helping navigate the increasing complexity that brokers are dealing with, which is why it's crucial to be at the forefront.”
Overall, the full group (COG Financial Services Limited) saw net assets finance grow by 4 per cent to $3.4 billion.
[RELATED: 2 aggregators merge to create asset finance supergroup]
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