Mortgage Advice Bureau (... Share Discussion Threads

[gsbmba99] 29/5/2018 08:58

AGM trading update from BLV. BLV are one of the larger MAB appointed representatives by virtue of their purchase of Brook last year. BLV says trading at Brook is up over 20% compared to last year: "Our 2017 corporate acquisition of Brook Financial Services ("Brook") outperformed the same period last year (when not part of the Group) by over 20%..."

[gsbmba99] 25/5/2018 17:42

The April UK Finance gross mortgage lending spreadsheet was published. Apr 18 was £20.4bn vs £18.0bn last year or +13.3%. YTD through 4 months it's £81.5bn vs £77.0bn or +5.7%.

[gsbmba99] 28/4/2018 06:59

The March UK Finance gross mortgage lending spreadsheet for March is out ( ). Mar 18 was £20.5bn vs £21.0bn last year or -2.26%. I haven't checked but there could be an Easter effect here. YTD through 3 months it's £61.4bn vs £59.0bn or +4.0%.

[chapchip] 05/4/2018 12:00

£700k is a drop in the ocean compared to his overall wealth.

yes he was highly desired based on previous roles/relationships and what he has done at his current employer.

good appointment.

[gsbmba99] 04/4/2018 08:05

Ben Thompson has been appointed MD, a new board level position. He was until today CEO of ULS ( ). Peter Brodnicki is gifting Thompson 113k shares. I can't recall seeing this before. It seems Mr. Thompson is much desired by Peter if he's willing to give up nearly £700k to get him to join. In the last 12 months we have two new proposition directors (mortgages and protection) and a new MD.

[techno20] 26/3/2018 19:00

Think lenders have been reluctant to provide the data as it shows just how much business is being transacted on an execution only, non advised basis. But you are right, UKF are on the case I believe.

[gsbmba99] 26/3/2018 18:43

The results said that we would get confirmation of the size of the product transfer market soon(ish): "The UK Finance industry data on gross mortgage lending currently excludes product switches with the same lender, but we expect UK Finance to confirm the size of the product switching market later on this year." Maybe it's too much to hope that their survey will be amended in future to include additional reporting on this market.

[techno20] 26/3/2018 18:13

Gsb - the CML / UKF no’s are a decent indicator of market conditions IMV, but it’s worth flagging that they don’t tell the whole story as they exclude product transfer business - borrowers moving to another loan with the same lender. Whilst lower margin than purchase or remo transactions, this part of the market is very strong at the moment and MAB’s advisers will be benefiting. Don’t think there are any firm figures on PT’s, but it’s in the region of £100bn of annual borrowing, not in the no’s!

[gsbmba99] 26/3/2018 17:33

Good. I'm glad they're helpful. It's not entirely clear to me how useful gross mortgage lending is as an "indicator". I guess it's a useful barometer and the CML numbers cover 98% or so of the lending market. But, MAB will have already declared the revenue (on exchange of contracts see post from chapchips) by the time it shows up in gross mortgage lending. Revenue is probably also much more sensitive to mix (ie BTL vs rate switch) given the rate differential than it is to general market health.

[edale] 26/3/2018 16:26

Thanks for your input gsb. Generally quiet on this board but I am invested and follow your posts with interest.

[gsbmba99] 26/3/2018 15:05

Feb 18 gross mortgage lending stats are out. £19bn up £0.9bn or 4.9% on £18.104bn last year. YTD through Feb, £40.982bn vs £38.056bn last year, +7.7%. Seems encouraging. Spreadsheet here:

[gsbmba99] 20/3/2018 10:57

"Zeus view: ... Management has indicated that it intends to “invest in IT” through increased day-to-day expenditure. We have increased our forecast IT costs materially: this results in a £0.3m increase in our forecast administration costs (N.B. 2017 administration costs were £0.1m below our forecasts). For 2018 we expect: 18% yoy growth in gross profit to £30.4m (2017: £25.9m); Gross profit margin of 23.2% (2017: 23.8%); 16% yoy growth in PBT to £16.8m (2017: £14.5m); 16% rise in FD adj EPS to 26.9p (consensus 2018: 26.5p 2017: 23.2p); 16% rise in the total DPS to 24.8p (consensus 2018: 24.6p; 2017: 21.4p). For 2019 we expect FD adj EPS to rise 16% to 28.7p (consensus: 30.7p)." ( )

[gsbmba99] 26/2/2018 13:01

Jan 18 gross mortgage lending figures are out. £21.9bn up 9.8% on £20.0bn last year. UKFinance spreadsheet here:

[gsbmba99] 23/2/2018 08:55

Wasn't previously aware that MAB published a National Mortgage Index. The most recent one is here:
Looks like the National Mortgage Index is published on the last day of the month covering the previous month. You can also find brief company commentary on other housing market surveys (eg Rightmove, Halifax) under market news:

[gsbmba99] 31/1/2018 08:23

LSL has purchased a company called Personal Touch for £5.4m (including assumed intercompany debt). Apparently, Personal Touch has an adviser network of 200 firms with 474 advisers that originated £5.1bn of mortgages in 2017. Not sure I understand why a firm that is a little less than 50% the size of MAB is only worth £5.4m. I'm assuming there are very material differences in the respective business models - eg Personal Touch has very small revenue share and/or doesn't offer the compliance oversight - that would explain the enormous gap in valuations.

[chapchip] 27/1/2018 08:59

exchange of contracts.......its more 0.35%...on resi, 0.45% on BTL and 0.175 - 0.20% on Product transfers

[chapchip] 25/1/2018 11:15

lowest mortgage approvals in Dec since 2013.....not seeing that myself as don t think we ve ever been so busy

[gsbmba99] 25/1/2018 10:56

Dec 17 CML gross mortgage lending estimate is £20.2bn which is +1.2% on Dec 16. 2H17 gross mortgage lending was £135.5bn, +8.4% on the £125.0bn in 16. Full year estimate is £256.1bn, +4.5% on £245.1bn in 16. Can't find any commentary. Commentary on the numbers has been haphazard since the CML was put under the UK Finance umbrella.

[gsbmba99] 22/1/2018 17:43

"Zeus view
This trading update confirms MAB is delivering double-digit revenue, profit and dividend growth through growing adviser numbers and benefits of scale.
Unrestricted cash balances have risen by more than £2.1m (June 2017: £10.9m): this is encouraging. We leave our PBT, EPS and DPS forecasts for 2017 and 2018 unchanged (page 2).
For 2017 we expect:
16% yoy growth in gross profit to £25.7m (1H17: £12m; 2H17E: £14m);
Gross profit margin of 23.7% (1H17: 24.1%; 2H17E 23.3%);
13% yoy growth in PBT to £14.2m (1H17: £6m; 2H17E: £8m);
13% rise in EPS to 22.9p (1H17: 10.4p; 2H17:12.5p);
15% rise in the total DPS to 21.0p (interim DPS of 9.5p; final DPS: 11.5p)
For 2018 we expect EPS to rise 21% to 27.8p (consensus: 26.5p)."
From