Hope Capital - Look back on Q2 2023

HOPE-FULL

DEBUT ISSUE

DISCOVER OUR AWARD WINNING CULTURE SAY ‘HI’ TO OUR NEW STARTERS

OUR FLEXIBLE APPROACH IS HELPING BROKERS AND BORROWERS

LEARN HOW OUR SWITCH PRODUCTS PROVIDES FLEXIBILITY

Here at Hope Capital, we like to do things a little differently. We’re incredibly proud of our team who go above and beyond on a daily basis to deliver for our brokers and borrowers and want to showcase the extraordinary achievements, enhancements and strides we’re making as a lender in the everchanging bridging finance space.

So, without further ado, grab a cuppa, sit back, and relax as we bring to you what we’ve been up to during the last quarter. From people, products and performance ‘Hope-Full’ sheds a light on why the grass is always greener at Hope Capital.

Enjoy.

EMILY CROWE Senior Marketing & PR Executive

CONTENTS

4-5 myHOPE: Why workplace culture matters so much to us

6-7

WE’VE WON AGAIN: More award wins under our belt

8-9

JUMPING ON BOARD: A warm welcome to our new starters

10-11

THE POWER OF FLEXIBILITY:

How our products are meeting the needs of brokers and borrowers

12-13 IF IT AINT BROKE DON’T FIX IT: Our switch products are flying out

14-15

ON THE ROAD:

The rain didn’t dampen our spirits

16-17

GIVING BACK: Be inspired by how we touch the life of others

18-19

DON’T TAKE OUR WORD FOR IT: Our results speaks for themselves

20-21

EXTENDING OUR PARTNERSHIP: We’ve onboarded new stakeholders

Some of the team at the NACFB Commercial Finance Expo

Hope Capital proudly supporting Sefton School Girls

Andrew Noon – Evolving Mindset

Jonathan Sealey – Hope Capital

myHOPE:

Why workplace culture matters so much to us

Over the last 6 months, we’ve done a lot to listen to our people and work on our culture.

We’re proud of what we’ve achieved and thanks to myHOPE, our attractive wellbeing and benefits offering, our staff feel valued, supported, and recognised for the great things they do.

We’ve completely overhauled our performance management procedures to make them fair and transparent, and our onboarding process has been improved to enhance the employee experience. We regularly ask for feedback to hear what we’re doing well and where we need to improve.

This quarter alone, we’ve involved our people in countless charity events, launches, and briefings to name a few.

Our latest quarterly team building event celebrated two nominees in our ‘Star of Hope’ award. This quarterly and annual values recognition scheme is our opportunity to celebrate and reward our amazing people who consistently demonstrate and live our values.

Congratulations Charlotte and Andy, as pictured above.

Building on previous quarterly updates, we took this one a step further with an escape room challenge, followed by the LAFTAs - our yearly fun

awards, giving colleagues a chance to vote in one of several weird and wacky categories.

During the event, we also opened our minds and hearts to Evolving Mindset (a local organisation which provides mental health wellbeing courses and support). Hosted by a mental health nurse the session focused on how to stay well and tap into the resources available through myHOPE, the charity itself or any one of our people managers who are all qualified Mental Health First Aiders.

A massive congratulations to Charlotte, for winning the Q1 Star of Hope award as voted by her colleagues

A further well done goes to Andy for being crowned Hope Capital’s first annual Star of Hope winner as voted by the Executive Management Team

We’ve won again:

More award wins under our belt

At the beginning of the year, we announced our Finance Director; Kate Cowan had been promoted to Chief Financial Officer

It gives us great pleasure to recognise and honour Kate’s latest achievements in being crowned Mortgage Introducer’s Elite Women , and most recently the Bridging Finance Solutions CFO of the Year (UK) in the Global CFO Excellence Awards

Kate’s announcement supports Hope Capital’s Pledge to the HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter. Since 2018, Hope Capital have supported the Charter which reflects the government’s aspiration

and our commitment to see gender balance at all levels across financial services firms.

Continuing with this success, and celebrating our female senior managers well done to Laura Carr & Jemma Wood who featured in Bridging & Commercial’s 2023 Power List earlier this year.

These latest award wins, along with the Best Bridging Lender Award 2023 by Empire Commercial Finance will take pride in our award cabinet.

We look forward to letting the cat out the bag in our next quarterly update. Until then, our lips are sealed...

Jemma Wood Head of Portfolio Management

Laura Carr Head of Underwriting

“I’m so proud to be a part of a team where 48% of our total workforce are represented by females and 80% of our Senior Management board are women. Hope Capital is unlike anywhere I’ve worked before, creating equal opportunities for all. We are so lucky to have our CEO, Jonathan Sealey who shares the same passion and vision for equity in the workplace.”

Kate Cowan Chief Financial Officer

Global CFO Excellence Awards

Bridging Finance Solutions

CFO of the Year (UK) 2023

Mortgage Introducer Awards

Elite Women 2023

Jumping on board:

A warm welcome to our new starters

It’s no secret that our team are among the best in the bridging finance industry.

So, with much pride, we’re delighted to welcome 4 new team members to Hope Capital, as pictured above.

We’re always looking to further propel our growth strategy, which is why we’re delighted to share our latest promotions and internal moves. Well done, David, Emily, Jon, Kim, and Michael.

This doesn’t stop here, and thanks to our continuous growth and promotions, we have several vacancies still to fill. You can learn more about our new starters in our Q3 update.

Callum Goulden BDE

David Weir BDM North & Scotland

Emily Crowe Senior Marketing & PR Executive

Jon Reed Senior Credit Manager

Kim Parker Sales Team Manager

Michael Trafford BDE

Grace Richards Portfolio Case Administrator

Cheryl Smyth Underwriter

Jack Gardner Senior BDE

David

“One of the main elements I value the most by working at Hope Capital are the countless opportunities to progress and develop my career.

Since joining the company at the beginning of 2022, I have already been promoted, providing a brandnew platform of opportunities and challenges. This ultimately is what keeps me driven and focused on bringing in results for my team.”

David Weir BDM North & Scotland Sales

Working at Hope Capital is different. We don’t just do our day job, we have fun, and we care about one another.

‘Cool, calm and collected!’

Andrew has been a very diligent and calm underwriter to work with - his approach to a strict deadline auction case has been a breeze and very much look forward to working with him again.

4.2

‘Customer experience’

Excellent service from Hope Capital. Specifically, Andrew and Jon who all went above and beyond on recent deals I have completed with Hope.

‘Fantastic lender’

Fantastic lender to deal with and a great back end team to get deals through.

Highly recommend Charlie and his team.

HIT THE JACKPOT ON OUR LOANS OVER £1M

The power of flexibility:

How our products are meeting the needs of brokers and borrowers

As markets continue to shift and consumer demands change, one form of lending which has become more popular in recent years are bridging loans.

Great news for us, but that doesn’t give us an excuse to take our eye of the ball. Delivering innovative products accompanied with exceptional service, flexibility and speed is paramount to ensure we are meeting the needs of the market.

It’s not about ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’, it’s about taking a step back and looking at what brokers need and what we can do to deliver a solution. We’ve been in the game for over a decade

and are continuously looking at ways to ensure our offering hits the mark.

In the last quarter, two things became clear to us: brokers were looking for options where their borrowers could hit the jackpot on their large loans and there was no sign of slowing down on refurbishment projects.

So, what did we do?

We reduced rates significantly for all deals over £1m, providing more affordability for broker’s clients and also enhanced our refurbishment offering, introducing up to 80% LTV on medium and heavy residential refurbishment projects.

Interested to know more?

If it aint broke don’t fix it:

Our switch products are flying out

Here at Hope Capital, we offer a number of switch products, which are ideal for those who are looking to obtain a new loan if their existing facility has reached the end of its term, or they want to embark on a new project.

We’ve had a busy quarter supporting borrowers who are looking for:

• Surety of exit with their bridging funding.

• Want to refinance assets without immediately tying themselves into longterm lending contracts with large ERC’s.

• Need more time to rebuild their credit before refinancing with a more mainstream/high street lender.

Retaining flexibility, saving significantly on costs and fast turnarounds are just some of the advantages of switching to a new

loan with us. We’ve been delighted to work with a number of brokers and their clients recently who have been looking to switch to a new product and achieve the outcome they’re looking for. We look forward to delivering the same service again in the next quarter!

We’ve been out and about bringing unrivalled bridging rates, unparalleled access to our latest offerings and most importantly our first-class approach to customer service.

NACFB Commercial Finance Expo

Hope Capital beer

Empire Commercial Finance Awards

Chester Races

Empire Commercial Finance Awards

Liverpool International Tennis Tournament

On the road

The rain didn’t dampen our spirits

11th May

Chester Races Hospitality Event – welcomed over 20 stakeholders

16th May

Q1 Update – hosted our quarterly team building event for the full team

14th June

NACFB Commercial Finance Expo – exhibited at the UK’s largest trade show for commercial finance intermediaries

20th June

Specialist Finance Symposium – sponsored and presented at the event in conjunction with Medianett

21st June

Empire Commercial Finance – scooped the award for Best Bridging Lender Award 2023

22nd June

Liverpool International Tennis Tournament – networking opportunity thanks to MSB Solicitors

10th July

Knowledge Bank Criteria Clinic: Auction & Development Financediscussed all things bridging with over 130 brokers

Giving back:

Be inspired by how we touch the life of others

As a purpose-driven company, we strive to create impact beyond lending! We’re proud to have recently supported local talent and value the importance our support makes. From inspiring football teams to supporting professional MMA fighters, we love sharing in other people’s success!

We regularly donate to charitable causes and participate in fundraising events so that our team can get involved. By making a difference in the lives of those around us, we make a difference in our own lives as well.

In May, we joined forces with North West Cancer Research, with the aim of raising as much money

as possible for the charity through their fundraising scheme: The £50 Challenge.

By splitting into five groups, we were given £50 each and competed against each other to see who could raise the most money via their fundraising campaigns, to support the charity’s pioneering research.

From raffles with very impressive prizes, to a comedy night, bake sale, tuck shop, beat the goalkeeper and so much more, our team went above and beyond to support this charity which is very close to our hearts.

At the end of the campaign, we raised over £6,000.00 and hope this will make a big difference

in supporting the charity’s work in the North West region.

Brad Armstrong – MSB Alastair Richards – North West Cancer Research Kirsty Shields – Financial Reporter Kate Cowan – Hope Capital

Nathan Fletcher

Sefton School Girls

Don’t take our word for it:

Our results speak for themselves

86%

Increase on year-on-year enquiries

106%

Increase on applications

101%

Increase on completions

40%

Increase in the number of staff

+135% +12%

New LinkedIn followers

Cyber Essentials certified

YEARS

For the 5th year running we have maintained the HM Treasury’s Women in Finance Charter

LinkedIn page views

(Stats are a comparison to the same period last year)

(Stats are for the period July 2023)

Extending our partnership:

We’ve

We’re delighted to have strengthen our panel in the last quarter with four brand-new additions: Evolve, Glenville Walker, Glaisyers, Leonard Curtis

It’s owing to the relationships we build with our key stakeholders which ensure we have the tools, knowledge and expertise to deliver for the client. Our partners are a key part of our success.

onboarded new stakeholders

We choose our partners carefully to ensure they have the same high values that we have at Hope Capital and the same commitment to outstanding customer service, speed, flexibility and specialism. This collaboration with partners helps enable us to deliver on our promises on time, every time.

We’re glad to have you all

onboard and look forward to working together moving forward.

We regularly seek new panel members to support our growing business. If you’re interested in joining our panel, or require further information, then please get in touch with us to see how we can work together! Please email hello@hope-capital.co.uk.

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