Ultimate Finance Group has increased its live clients by 55% and its funds in use by 52% over the past 12 months.

The asset-based lender, which provides cashflow solutions to SMEs, exceeded 500 live clients for the first time in July with its lending increasing to almost £41m from just short of £27m at the same time last year.

Statistics released by the Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA) has also revealed that borrowing against hard assets, including inventory, plant and machinery and real estate, has reached an all-time high of £4.2 billion, representing a 9% increase in 12 months for the sector as a whole.

According to the research, the overall amount of funding provided to businesses through asset-based finance – including invoice finance as well as ‘hard’ assets – rose by £370 million to £19.3 billion at the end of June.

Nick Smith (pictured), sales director of Ultimate Finance Group, which has seven offices throughout the UK, said: “I echo the conclusion drawn by the ABFA that asset-based lending is becoming a primary choice for finance for many businesses as banks are still reluctant to lend, having pulled in their ‘purse strings’ around eight years ago.

“During this period we have assembled a very experienced and well respected team, as well as increasing our geographical spread, which has placed us in an excellent position to take advantage of the increasing popularity of ABL.

“It is heartening to see that this strategy has paid dividends with more than a 50% growth in both clients and lending over the last year. An impressive increase especially when compared to the sector as a whole.”