'Folkonomics' appears to be working: the Cheltenham-based SME lender, which hit a £700m financing milestone last summer, has just revealed its trading figures for the year ending January 31, 2025 and reported its highest ever turnover, plus a sixth year of profit.

Based here and in Cornwall, FOLK2FOLK is now the UK's largest peer-to-peer business lending platform by cumulative lending says its unaudited results saw a turnover of £6.16m, an increase of 17% from the previous year (£5.28m).

Pre-tax profit was £1.84m, up 43% from FY 2023 (£1.28m) and the firm also paid dividends for the fourth consecutive year, reinforcing its continued stability.

FOLK2FOLK provides secured, interest-only business loans to SMEs across the UK's regions, helping them to start, grow or diversify while offering fixed monthly income to retail and institutional investors.

Roy Warren, Managing Director, said: "Our record results are a testament to the resilience of our business model, the strength of investor confidence and the persistent demand from SMEs across regional Britain for fair and flexible finance."

He added: "We're proud to be delivering consistent growth while staying true to our mission of supporting underserved businesses across the regional parts of the UK, and generating attractive returns for our investors. These results wouldn't be possible without the continued trust of our investor community."

A stable and profitable platform enabled the firm to continue serving both borrowers and investors, he said, to invest in long-term improvements and manage all loans, including complex cases, with care and diligence.

● The platform has now facilitated more than £760m in cumulative loans, with a strong borrower pipeline and continued growth expected through FY2025. Fully audited accounts will be published next month.