Finance firm's £100m plan for the next year

PMD boss Peter Dobson with department heads Lee Schofield and Tom Brown

A BUSINESS finance firm is celebrating its seventh anniversary and looking to expand its lending.

PMD has grown from employing eight staff to 21, and managing director Peter Dobson has revealed plans to provide £100 million of finance to small and medium-sized businesses over the next 12 months.

The firm, based at Admiral House on Parsons Street, Featherstall, says it is cementing itself as one of the biggest independent brokers in the UK.

Mr Dobson said: "We currently advance £75 million per year to SMEs and we're aiming to reach £100 million over the course of the next year.

"We're optimistic of reaching that target because our sector is buoyant and our business is growing. We are recruiting more staff all the time. We've also stepped up our efforts to really spread the word about alternative finance and the different options that are available for small and medium-sized firms."

Mr Dobson left school in Bolton aged 16 and decided against the university route. He chose to pursue a career in finance and started his first job with NatWest on his 16th birthday. Aged 21, he went into asset finance and later became the managing director of Admiral Leasing for 16 years.

He said said: "At school, the careers teacher would tell you it was either engineering or banking. I was based at Admiral Leasing for 16 years and oversaw its successful sale in 2006. I worked for the new company for three years before forming PMD.

"I'd ran someone else's business for 16 years and realised I wanted control over my own destiny. That was when I saw an opportunity to start PMD. It began with eight employees and we've grown to 21. Now we're looking for more people to join.

"PMD's success is absolutely down to our staff. It's a predominantly young team and we've taken care in training to ensure everyone has the same ethos and work ethic."

Department heads Lee Schofield and Tom Brown are both 31. Lee is also a director and Tom is earmarked to be made a director in the next 12 months.

Tom was recruited with business development director Richard Fothergill to set up the direct finance offering. Lee's focus is developing relationships with suppliers of equipment, machinery and commercial vehicles.

Peter said: "Tom and Lee are both young, dynamic and forward-thinking. They have steered the company in its growth. Since they joined, we've added direct finance to our portfolio and we also recently underwent a rebrand to better reflect our services."