Praetura Asset Finance has reported record growth in 2017, with a 9% rise in the number of cases and a 23% increase in lending year-on-year.

Lending totals increased across all funding products offered, including a 26% rise in hire purchase facilities. There was also a surge in the amount of businesses being assisted by asset refinance, with the number of cases increasing by almost a third.

The firm saw growth of more than 50% in asset finance funding in the South and the Midlands. 2017 also saw more brokers and business finance advisers working with Praetura than ever before.

Although haulage, construction and vehicle hire continue to command a strong proportion of Praetura’s book, 2017 saw the range of industries utilising asset finance expand, including triple digit growth in the amount lent to businesses in the arts and entertainment industry.

Mike Hartley, managing director at Praetura Asset Finance, said: “When we established Praetura just a few short years ago, we were very clear about what we wanted to do; which was to put the focus back on the SMEs we were providing funding for. And it’s working.

“As a ‘consultant-lender’, we’re not just here to tick boxes, press buttons and finance assets, we’re here to understand, to comprehend and to finance solutions which will enable business to grow.

“But there’s still work to be done. More and more businesses are benefitting from the range of options that asset finance can make possible, but there are many more that we could be helping, who still think if the bank says no, then there’s nowhere else to go. This we need to change.”