Lending soars at Kensington

MORTGAGE company Kensington Group, which lends to people who often struggle to obtain loans from mainstream banks, lifted first-half pre-tax profits 28% to £13.3m.

New lending soared 51% to £415m and the group, which floated two years ago, said the quality of its business had improved. Only 38% of new borrowers had County Court judgements against them compared with 44% in the same period last year.

To limit the risk of defaulting, Kensington only lends an average of 2.7 times a borrower's salary compared with the industry average of 3.1 times. The average loan is only 79% of the property value.

Loans since the half-year to the end of May are 35% up on the previous year. Sponsorship of Sky TV's coverage of the England cricket tour of India and New Zealand have boosted the brand.