Bright Finance Annual Review 2006

Bright Finance, is going from strength to strength, and in 2006 once again processed more than £1 billion in loan applications.

Bright is strongly confident of further growth with its planned new developments during 2007.

The company has enjoyed tremendous success this year on a number of fronts.

'call wait times' have been reduced by 75%.

One area of the company which has shown significant improvements in performance has been the Contact Centre. Voted a European Call Centre of the Year Award winner in 2005 the teams at Bright were keen to build on that success and develop the processes and systems in the Contact Centre to deliver even more profitable business for clients and a better service for customers. One example of the improvements made is to the 'call wait times', whilst already low, these have been reduced by 75%.

The Lending teams have delivered record-breaking results month on month while the Quality team has steered the company to attaining certification to the ISO 9001 accreditation, recognising the company's established framework of good practice within its quality management system. This demonstrates Bright's commitment to continuous improvement especially in the field of customer service.

Chief Executive Mark Cooke, was voted Entrepreneur of the Year...

Chief Executive Mark Cooke, was voted Entrepreneur of the Year in the Institute of Directors' Yorkshire and Humber Director of the Year Awards. The company was also a finalist in The Credit Suisse Entrepreneur of the Year Award (North East Region) in the National Business Awards.

The company has also played an increasingly significant role in Sheffield and the city's business community. Bright was proud to be the main sponsor of the Sheffield Half Marathon in 2006 - Bright Finance is also the main sponsor for 2007. The half marathon's charity in 2006 was Help A Hallam Child, raising funds for its Read to Succeed Campaign. This campaign is paying for teaching assistants to help boost young people's reading skills at a number of schools in South Yorkshire.

During 2006 Bright Finance and its staff have raised around £9,000 for this charity. This Christmas, the company, instead of sending corporate Christmas cards, has donated a further £1,000 to Help A Hallam Child.

Bright Finance also played its part in the Sheffield Bond initiative - aimed at tackling debt in the city. In addition to making a donation, a number of staff were seconded to work for the bond - and approached city businesses to gain even more support.

2007 sees the 150th birthdays of both the Sheffield Chamber of Commerce and Industry of which Bright Finance is a patron and Sheffield FC (the world's oldest football club) of which Bright is a sponsor.

The company has also sponsored Beverley golfer John Wells in a number of high profile golf tournaments which attracted up and coming professionals from across the United Kingdom and Europe.

Paul Hancock, Bright Finance's Chairman said: "The company has had another busy year. Not only have we had a successful trading year, but also we've raised a lot of money for charity and sponsored one of Sheffield's biggest sporting events."

Mark added: "We're looking forward to another successful year in 2007. We are currently finalising the business plans for next year and we are sure they will enable the company to continue to show impressive growth."

Posted: 21st December 2006