Standard and Poor’s (S&P) has upgraded the status of its outlook on the rankings for HML as a primary and special residential mortgage servicer in the UK to “positive”.

The ratings agency also upgraded its outlook for HML as a primary mortgage servicer in Ireland and affirmed HML’s overall ranking for UK and Ireland as “above average”.

Andrew Jones, CEO at HML, said: “We’re delighted that S&P has upgraded its outlook on HML’s rankings following our hugely successful integration with Computershare.

“S&P focused particularly on our clear commitment to business development, the quality of our systems and our extensive training programmes, which together ensure we can continually improve our business and the services we deliver.

“HML and Computershare have ambitious plans to grow our business further, and we will continue to contribute to the economy locally and nationally as a leading force within the Northern Powerhouse.”

S&P described the Skipton-based company as an “experienced servicer” that has demonstrated a “clear commitment” to developing the business since its acquisition by Computershare.

The rating agency said that overall changes made at HML since the acquisition had been positive, including an “encouraging” pipeline of new business and the successful transfer of core IT services to Computershare’s systems, which provided “a well-supported and proven platform for HML’s servicing activities.”

S&P also cited “high levels of automation” within HML’s IT and systems support, which it said allow the company to provide an “efficient and effective service”, and described the training and development of staff at HML as “well-supported and extensive”.

HML’s ranking as a primary and special servicer in the UK and as a primary servicer in Ireland increased from “stable” to “positive”.