Highlights of the year for the society included:-
- Group pre-tax profit up 20 per cent to £6.8 million
- Group total assets up 33 per cent, to a record £2.3 billion
- Society management expenses ratio down to 0.52 per cent
- Group mortgage balances up 4 per cent to £1.4 billion
- Members’ savings balances up 8 per cent to £1.3 billion
- Total assets under management up 41 per cent to £4.3 billion
- Further diversifying the business by acquiring a new offshore retail deposit-taking subsidiary, Scarborough Channel Islands Limited (SCIL).
- Launching a new non-conforming lending arm, Scarborough Specialist Mortgages (SSM), enabling the Group to cater for the full market spectrum of customers.
- Producing innovative, long-term good value products to meet changing social needs, including a dedicated Christmas Saver account giving people a regulated alternative to hamper clubs following the Farepak collapse.
- Obtaining a first investment grade credit rating for the Group from Moody’s of A3.
- Securing primary and special servicer ratings of 2- and 3+ from independent ratings agency Fitch for our mortgage administration subsidiary Scarborough Mortgage Services (SMS).
- Accelerating the growth of the Group by taking on major new mortgage administration clients for SMS and completing transactions totalling £2.3 billion through mortgage trading subsidiary North Yorkshire Mortgages (NYM).
- Creating a refreshed Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) policy which outlines our commitment to members and the communities in which they live, giving 1 per cent of pre-tax profit to good causes.
- Replacing our Legacy mainframe system with new Microsoft SQL Servers, giving the Group access to the Microsoft .Net environment, to improve the efficiency and future scalability of our systems.
- Launching a flagship branch in Scarborough and planning to relocate to a state-of-the-art branch in Leeds.
"We have achieved a successful balance between the focus needed to deliver on our plan, and the ability to seize opportunities which enhance our Group business, whilst responding to changing consumer and social trends by bringing new and innovative products to market.
"All of this activity has enabled us to fulfil our core purpose of creating profitability to invest in and sustain our business in order to return value to our members through rewarding savings products and value-for-money mortgages."
As for the future, John added that Scarborough has ambitious plans to ensure the positive trend continues throughout the year ahead.
"Rising interest rates will create some uncertainty for the housing market and competition will continue to reduce operating margins. However, these challenges bring opportunities for the Scarborough Group, and we look forward to taking advantage of them in the year ahead."
