Phil Gray

Watts Commercial Finance targets £50m of funding in first year of new London office




Watts Commercial Finance is targeting in excess of £50m of funding into the capital's SME community in its first year of trading from its new London office.

In an interview with Bridging & Commercial, Phil Gray, managing director at Watts Commercial Finance (pictured above), stated that he could envisage “phenomenal” growth in the London and South of England area of its business.

The commercial finance brokerage recently revealed the launch of its new London office, with Steve Boyde and Callum Taylor serving as directors for its operations in the capital.

Phil claimed that the maturity of the business was at the right stage and with it meeting the right people, it was an ideal time for it to launch the new premises.

“I’ve always wanted to have an office in London.

“We’ve got outstanding commercial managers based out of our Nantwich offices — who cover the whole of the UK — and we just felt that it was the right time to expand.

“London obviously brings its own uniqueness — it's a different part of the world really compared with the rest of the UK.

“So, we felt that it was a good time to go into London, and also we met the two guys who we believed to be the right people.”

Phil added that once the new directors were settled into their new roles, it would be looking to hire new employees, with potentially 20 staff working in the new office within two or three years.

In addition, he reported that it had got the ball rolling on the launch of a new Edinburgh office to give it a physical base in Scotland, with the new premises opening at some point between Q3 2020 and Q2 2021.

“I think Edinburgh is, sadly, underserved by the broker community, so there's definitely opportunities there.

“…Having spent 16 years [learning] my trade with RBS, I’m very fond of Edinburgh, and Scotland in general.

“There are brokers in that area, but I think there's an opportunity for Watts Commercial to go up there and help the SME community with their finance requirements.”

Phil believed Watts could grow to have five to six offices over the next five years, as he pictured it becoming more of a national brand.

“We’re excited about London, we’re excited about our head office in Nantwich and we’re excited about the opportunities that the UK can provide us over the coming four or five years,” he concluded.

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