Orchard Funding Share News (ORCH)

(Sharecast News) - Specialist finance company Orchard Funding Group updated the market on its trading for the year ended 31 July on Wednesday, reporting that lending, revenue and profit before tax numbers were all expected to be "significantly higher" than 2017.The AIM-traded firm said profit before tax was expected to be in line with management expectations, and revenue was expected to be "broadly in line" with management expectations.Looking at the books, the board said lending was 8.49% higher year-on-year at £68.73m, while its loan book grew 8.9% to £30.95m.Orchard said it intended to announce its final results for the year ended 31 July on 13 November."I am very pleased with Orchard's performance during the year," said group chief executive officer Ravi Takhar."We have continued to increase our lending and impact in our market."Despite aggressive competition from the leading market players, we are pleased to have maintained healthy margins in our core markets."During the year, Takhar said the company also developed "market leading" software to further enhance its product offering."We move into our new financial year with great confidence and fully expect to continue our growth trajectory."The banking application process is going according to plan and we remain hopeful of receiving the bank licence by the end of this calendar year."