Financial services group Amicus commits to Northern Powerhouse with Manchester office launch

Financial services group Amicus Finance plc has voiced its commitment to the Northern Powerhouse with a new office in Manchester.

The company said its Princess Street premises will serve as its base of operations for the North as it seeks to grow its footprint in the region.

Amicus’ Manchester team will provide SME lending, working capital and short-term property loans through its Norton Folgate, Amicus Commercial Finance and Amicus Property Finance divisions.

The latter arm will relocate to Princess Street from its existing regional office in Preston.

Amicus CEO John Jenkins said: “We are delighted to be able to cement our business in the North. Small businesses are increasingly turning to specialist lenders who have the local knowledge and skills to understand their specific needs.

“Having built a strong business base from our property lending expertise we have significantly broadened our proposition into other areas of specialist lending.”

While the new Manchester office will initially employ a team of 20, Amicus plans to expand the headcount in 2017.

Amicus Commercial Finance MD John Wilde commented: “Manchester is a significant regional business hub and represents the first step on our journey to deliver the highest quality of service to our clients and to our intermediary partners on a local basis.

“Our presence in Manchester will be led by Sean Thomson who is well known across the wider Manchester business community.”

He added: “This expansion supports our commitment to providing solutions-focussed, old fashioned relationship values underpinned by state-of-the-art technology.”

The divisional director at Amicus Property Finance, Shoaib Bux, said: “This new office is testament to the Group’s tremendous growth over the last few years.

“Manchester is the centre of the Northern Powerhouse and a part of the UK that is seeing high levels of growth despite an uncertain national economic backdrop.”

Shoaib continued: “Our localised relationship-based approach resonates well with fast growing SMEs looking for specialist lending.”

Robert Keep, the managing director of Amicus’ Norton Folgate division, said: “We have an incredible opportunity in the North to further develop and establish Amicus as the independent lender of choice and this will be achieved by servicing the local business community and providing them with efficient access to funding.

“Manchester has an extensive and established network of businesses and intermediaries alike and is the obvious choice for Amicus within the region.”