Due to continued growth during 2006 Excel Securities have appointed Jonathan Jacob as Business Development Manager. Jonathan’s role will be to maintain relationships with existing brokers whilst also bringing in fresh contacts whose clients would benefit from Excel’s expertise in short-term commercial finance. Prior to joining Excel, Jonathan ran his own successful brokerage and, therefore, has a thorough understanding of the financial and property markets. He very much appreciates what brokers want from a lender in order to provide the best possible service to their clients. Jon says “Excel were the ideal choice of employer for me. Their reputation, track record and year on year growth are second to none in the industry. I am confident that I can contribute towards another successful year for the company” ISSUE NUMBER 4 MARCH 07 express www.excelsecuritiesplc.co.uk Excel Securities plc. 55 King Street, Manchester, M2 4LQ Telephone 0161 832 9898 Fax 0161 837 3343 www.excelsecuritiesplc.co.uk After successfully completing the London Marathon back in April, our Sales and Marketing Director, Mark Keating, decided to step up a gear and embark on his biggest challenge to date – climbing Africa’s highest mountain, Mount Kilimanjaro, in aid of charity! Rising dramatically from the plains of the Great Rift Valley and bordering Kenya and Tanzania, Mount Kilimanjaro is 5896 m (19,340 ft) high and is the highest free- standing mountain in the world. Climbing to its summit is the ultimate physical challenge for any fit trekker but Mark managed to conquer the mountain in January this year to raise funds on behalf of Voluntary Service Overseas (VSO) – a top international development charity that enlists volunteers to help fight world poverty. The charity was chosen by Mark after he experienced the hardships of life in the developing world whilst working as a volunteer in Indonesia. EXCEL APPOINT NEW BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT MANAGER Up to 80% of Open Market Valuation irrespective of purchase price. Loans from £100,000 to £5,000,000 Loan terms from 1 to 6 months, with extensions available. Immediate decision in principal (indicative terms issued within one hour of receipt of enquiry during working hours). Highly competitive interest rates. Fully Non-Status. No up-front fees. Expedited completion process. We the exception of owner occupied residential property, we are happy to lend on all land and property transactions anywhere in the UK. A summary of our lending criteria: Our Managing Director, Laurie Hoffman, believes this growth is the result of a combination of factors, but perhaps most importantly, Excel’s ability to respond quickly as a team to loan requests and the increasing numbers of entrepreneurs who understand the benefits of the flexibility of short term property funding. We are seeing entrepreneurs who need an immediate cash injection turn to us for funding or to assist with cash flow requirements. They are commercially sophisticated and recognise that the rapid availability of funds in situations when traditional lenders either do not have the appetite for the loan, or simply cannot meet their timescale will make the difference between completing the transaction or not. No longer are we seen as a lender of last resort, but as a provider of funds in parallel to traditional lenders. Our banking syndicate has been extremely supportive. Our facilities have been increased as and when required. As a result, we are not only able to increase our maximum loan to £5m but also our ratio of loan to value. Unlike many of our competitors we lend on value rather than the price paid by our customer. The increase in loan to open market value to 70% and in certain situations up to 80% means Excel offers what it believes is the highest LTV against commercial property in the industry. This means that if a borrower has been able to negotiate a discount on the purchase price, they can benefit by still borrowing against the value of the property and so potentially, fund a greater proportion of the purchase price. The result is that a borrower can often undertake a deal that they otherwise would not be able to. The final development in Excel’s year has been its move into Northern Ireland. This is a relatively new form of funding for Northern Ireland and one that many entrepreneurs and business people are simply not aware of. There’s a great deal of potential in the region. It’s been an incredibly busy year by anyone’s standards. The hard work by all members of the Excel team and innovative approach is paying dividends in terms of our business growth. We’re all set for the challenge of making our business even more successful in 2007. 2006 has been another year of expansion for Excel. We have seen a record number of completions, additional support from our banking syndicate demonstrating its confidence in the company and an increase in maximum loan and loan to value criteria together with an expansion of our geographical coverage. CHANGING TIMES AT EXCEL SECURITIES EXCEL SECURITIES REDUCES MINIMUM TERM ON ALL LOAN APPLICATIONS TO 1 MONTH In response to demand from both our introducers and borrowers, from February 2007 Excel reduced its minimum term on all loan applications from three months to one month. All Excel loans with continue to be underwritten for six months, renewable up to a maximum of 24 months. For further information please contact Mark Keating or Jamie Bleakley on 0161 832 9898 Donations can be made via Mark’s website www.justgiving.com/mkeating. MARK COMPLETES THE ULTIMATE CHALLENGE! express excel news:excel news 27/2/07 08:29 Page 1 1.How long have you worked for Excel? I joined Excel three and a half years ago. Prior to that I was a Sales Manager for a residential and commercial broker; valuable experience when dealing with other brokers/ intermediaries. 2. What does your job involve? When I am in the office my job involves dealing with new and existing introducers ranging from commercial brokers to professional intermediaries and clients to whom we are lending to. When I am out of the office I am normally meeting new introducers hopefully getting them to use Excel rather than our competitors and meeting some of our clients. 3. What’s a typical day like? If I am in the office a typical day would be dealing with new enquires from our introducers and dealing with on-going matters, trying to get these competed as fast as possible so that our introducers can eat (well that’s what they lead me to believe). If I am out of the office I will either be networking meeting new introducers or maintaining relationships with our existing introducers. 4. What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this job? Coming from a family of entrepreneurs I would probably have done something on my own that combined my knowledge of finance and interest of property. 5. What do you like doing in your spare time? At the moment I am in the middle of renovating my property and as always, it is taking longer than normal so I am spending most of my time there. Once done I will normally be found at the gym or eating in a restaurant somewhere. 6. Who do you most admire? I admire many different people in many different ways from a personal level to a business level. However there are two people who over the last year I have come to admire. One being Laurie Hoffman (our Managing Director) for overcoming probably the hardest thing that anyone can ever experience both mentally and physically. Number two is Mark Keating (Sales and Marketing Director) for raising almost £10,000 for VSO by running the London Marathon and climbing Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania. As a sports person I can relate to how hard these two activities are and how commendable it is. 7. What is your ambition? As a person who always has goals short term and long term I would have to say that my ambition is to achieve all of the goals I set. I would like to think that I always give 100% in everything I do as I was once told that if your going to do something then give it everything otherwise there is no point in doing it at all. Leading short-term finance provider, Excel Securities, has broken all industry records in completing the deal of all time, within the shortest amount of time! In little under 24 hours, the Manchester-based firm came to the rescue of property developer Gerald Doherty, director of Newtown Park Developments Limited, to fund his £2.5m residential development in St Helens, after his mainstream lender let him down at the last minute. In what is virtually unheard of in terms of turnaround time for a deal of this size, Excel Securities provided the capital injection required to avoid Newtown forfeiting a half a million pound deposit with the vendor. Gerald comments: “I was very much left out on limb. After a number of month’s negotiation with a bank it looked like all was going to plan and the deal was set to complete. Then, at the last minute, they backed out and I was left with the prospect of losing the deal and a hefty deposit.” He continued: “My only option was to seek financial backing from a short term funder. I knew Excel would provide the best possible LTV and loan criteria, providing funding based on the more favourable Open Market Value of the property rather than the Restricted Sale Value or Purchase Price. This allowed me to raise over 75% of the value of the property (£1.9m), quickly and easily.” Unlike many banks and other traditional lending institutions, short term lenders usually operate on a non-status basis simply securing their loan against suitable commercial or residential property, or land. This means the underwriting decision is made purely on the valuation of the security property. Therefore factors which are critical to other lenders such as serviceability, evidence of repayment, track record and credit history are not required for the underwriting decision to be made. Janet McBurney and Amanda Hurst of Mace & Jones Solicitors, representing Newtown and Valuers, Dixon Webb LLP, worked closely together, with Excel Securities and their solicitors to pull out all the stops to ensure the necessary paperwork and essentials such as valuation, searches, title documents, insurance and other security requirements were completed in time. Michael Foxford from Birchall Blackburn who acted on behalf of Excel to undertake the conveyancing of the part complete flats in St Helens. He says: “It was simply a matter of getting everything together within a 24 hour time frame. No corners were cut, we simply pulled out all the stops to drive the deal to completion.” BELOW ARE SOME PRESS ARTICLES FROM EXCEL THAT HAVE APPEARED IN... NW BUSINESS INSIDER, BUSINESS MONEY, NICHE, BUSINESS XL, COMMERCIAL PROPERTY MONTHLY AND MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS Excel Securities has completed its first deal in Northern Ireland, shortly after it announced that it would start providing funding in the Province. And the deal was typical of the way in which Excel operates, with the company providing £190k funding to property investor Joe Martin, who needed to move quickly to meet a tight completion deadline agreed with the vendor of a 147-acre hill farm and a traditional farmhouse he wanted to buy. express www.excelsecuritiesplc.co.uk Initially, Joe planned to finance his Northern Ireland purchase with proceeds left after the sale of two rental properties he owned in Brixton and the redemption of existing mortgages on them. One sale completed on time but at the last minute the sale of the second house collapsed leaving Joe needing alternative finance quickly. Joe’s broker, John Charcol & Co, introduced him to Excel Securities: “Excel were terrific and responded very quickly allowing me to have the funds I needed in time for completion.” Excel’s flexibility also meant that it was able to step in where local banks were unwilling to fund the purchase. Joe added: “I realised from the start that this might not be an easy property to finance. The agricultural market is depressed and I don’t look like a farmer. Also, although the house has a lot of potential for holiday letting it’s a long way off that condition yet.” But Joe believes he has struck gold: the two-storey property in Dromara lies within the boundaries of an officially designated Area of Outstanding Beauty and just south of a locally celebrated mountain, Sleive Croob, part of Mourne. PROPERTY COMPANY BUILDS ON EXCEL’S EXPERTISE EXCEL COMPLETES FIRST NORTHERN IRELAND DEAL EXCEL SECURITIES SAVES PROPERTY DEVELOPER IN THE FASTEST DEAL OF ALL TIME Excel nominated for Business Moneyfacts Best Commercial Mortgage Service Provider We are pleased to announce that Excel have been nominated for the Business Moneyfacts Best Commercial Mortgage Service Provider. We are the only short-term lender nominated for this award this year. Indeed, we are the only short term lender ever to have been nominated for this award. We are up against tough competition (Barclays Bank, Clydesdale/Yorkshire, Commercial First, Lloyds TSB, and Royal Bank Of Scotland), but we are very pleased just to have received the nomination. We believe this is a small reward for all out efforts throughout 2006 to establish Excel as the leading player in the short term lending market. 1. How long have you worked for Excel? I worked for Laurie Hoffman, the MD of Excel, who was a partner in a law firm, prior to Excel’s formation. I assisted him in the set-up of Excel and resigned from my job in the law firm to work for him once Excel commenced trading in 1999. Previously, I worked for a firm of Solicitors. I was office manager and also had my own property conveyancing case load. I also assisted 2 partners in commercial/property transactions, all of which is very useful experience in my current role. 2. What does you job involve? I process the loan applications from instructing solicitors through to completion together with overseeing the administration staff. This involves liaising with various parties including the applicants, solicitors (both Excel’s and the applicants), valuers and our own credit committee. Ensuring everything is in order to completion of the loan at the earliest opportunity. 3. What’s a typical day like The days can be varied and are always busy. Most days are rushed especially when there is a completion taking place. Most completions are on a "deadline" so everyone has to pull together to get the result! 4. What would you be doing if you weren’t doing this job? Would have furthered my career in the legal profession. 5. What do you like doing in your spare time? I love shopping and spending time with my children - especially in hot climates on beaches! 6. Who do you most admire? I would have to say Richard Branson as he is a true entrepreneur for what he has managed to do with Virgin. Whilst making a lot of money he has always remained focused and he has never lost sight of what is important. I think anyone in business could learn a lot from him in the way he runs his business. 7. What is your ambition? To be able to spend more time with my children, preferably in hotter climates as mentioned above. EXCEL PROFILE – JAMIE BLEAKLEY – SALES MANAGER EXCEL PROFILE – JOANNE OGDEN – OFFICE MANAGER Excel Securities’ expertise and ability to provide funding at very short notice has enabled a new property company in Scotland to buy a piece of land where it will build three exclusive half million pound homes. Camatt Properties was approached by an agent who was selling an area of land in Eyemouth in the Scottish Borders. Due to time constraints placed by the vendor, Camatt was only given two weeks to complete the deal or miss out altogether. They turned to Excel, known to one of the founding partners James Dewar, a financial advisor who had dealt with Excel previously. James was aware that very few companies will lend north of the border on the same basis as Excel – short-term funding is difficult to arrange and it’s even more difficult to find a lender who will lend against land. “I’ve dealt with Excel for three years and know how quick they are to respond and also the fact that they would be prepared to lend us against the land itself, so I had no hesitation in calling them – and sure enough, they came up trumps”, said James. Excel provided £187,000 in short-term funding to enable the land to be purchased. Camatt itself was formed specifically for the Eyemouth build and is a partnership involving James, Andy Beatt and Paul Davidson. The land was originally agricultural and used for grazing, but had outline planning consent in an area where local councils are encouraging inward investment. The three houses will be completed later this year and will be built to an extremely high specification on plots of a quarter of an acre each. Generously proportioned at 250 sq metres, each luxury home will have six bedrooms and four bathrooms and will be built in a style sympathetic to the local area. As the land itself is close to the A1 trunk road, the houses are expected to appeal to buyers who may well work in Edinburgh, but still want to live in the country – the nation’s capital is just a 30 minute drive from Eyemouth. excel news:excel news 27/2/07 08:29 Page 3