Yellow Brick Road bulks up loan book, revenues and losses

Yellow Brick Road bulked up during the six months to December, with the acquisitions of Resi Mortgage Corp and Vow Financial adding substantially to revenues and loans under administration. But costs grew faster and the company reported a bigger loss, compared with the previous corresponding period.

YBR is yet to see the scale benefits of its acquisitions.

Revenue jumped from A$15.3 million in the six months to December 2013 to $59.2 million in the latest half. Loan settlements rose 52 per cent.

Commission and consultancy expenses grew even faster - from $8.9 million to $44.2 million over the same period. Finance costs rose from $652,000 to $3.6 million.

The bottom line result was a loss of $4.2 million, compared with a loss of $3.5 million in the previous corresponding period.

Cash flow was negative, with cash flow from operations an outflow of $3.7 million, compared with an outflow of $2.8 million in the previous corresponding period.

All the revenue growth came through the company's branch network. The number of "distribution points" increased from 206 to 1030 following the Vow and Resi acquisitions.

The professional services division, which has a history of underperforming, suffered a revenue fall from $2.9 million in the December half in 2013 to $2.3 million in the latest half.

Vow Financial is a mortgage aggregator that provides services to more than 700 mortgage brokers and administers a portfolio worth about $18 billion.

Resi is a loan originator relying on a franchised network of 40 branches for distribution.

YBR's loan book reached $27.7 billion during the half.