Finance company humm remains in a rebuilding phase, with the rationalisation of its product set that started a couple of years ago yet to be completed and a number of initiatives designed to revitalise its commercial and consumer divisions about to get underway. Humm chief executive Stuart Grimshaw said the company was also working to lower costs and upgrade its technology. “We want growth but we have to rebuild the foundations first,” Grimshaw said. humm released its financial report for the six months to December 2023 yesterday, reporting that commercial receivables grew 39 per cent to A$2.7 billion and consumer receivables grew 6 per cent to $1.9 billion, compared with the previous corresponding period. Income was up 24 per cent to $298.7 million but an 88 per cent increase in the interest expense negated any growth in net operating income, which fell 1 per cent to A$152.6 million. Credit impairments were up 22 per cent to $48 million and expenses were up. The company reported a pre-tax loss of $8.8 million, which was reduced to a loss of $6 million thanks to a tax benefit. After adjusting for non-cash items, the company reported a normalised cash profit of $28.1 million – down 27 per cent from a cash profit of $35 million in the previous corresponding period. Since 2022, humm has been cleaning up after an overly ambitious and largely unsuccessful expansion. It has discontinued a range of products, including hummpro (a BNPL offering for small business) and consumer BNPL products in New Zealand. It also stopped originating new loans under a program called bundll. The clean-up is ongoing, with the closure of the Little Things business scheduled for later this month. Grimshaw is turning his attention to a number of projects, including investment in cloud technology that he said will stabilise the company’s platforms, improve credit assessment and enable faster settlements. He said the commercial business would target new industry sectors, including healthcare. And the company was also looking for “inorganic” opportunities. In its consumer business, humm will launch a personal loan in the current half and enhance its Q brand in New Zealand, which has been allowed to languish. It is looking for growth opportunities in its Canadian and Irish businesses. The consumer division will focus on transaction sizes over $1,000 and will focus more on specific industries, such as travel, car servicing, solar panel installation, home improvements and healthcare.