OUR
STRATEGY

Thorn’s strategy is to be a leader in niche financial services markets. The group’s underlying performance in FY16 demonstrates the potential of the customer markets it targets and serves with combined revenue from consumer leasing and business finance increasing 5.7 per cent above the previous year and EBIT up
3.4 per cent.

The outcome of a strategic review by Thorn has made it clear the two principal businesses, consumer leasing and business finance, generate attractive and recurring levels of return on capital. Consequently, they warrant further investment, funding for growth and technology to improve customer experience, transactional efficiency and to achieve wider demographic reach.

Thorn’s strategic direction over the next few years will be to focus on growing in these areas, while also applying the group’s skill set to receivables management. This will streamline product development and also define potential acquisitions that might add to market positioning.

To enhance this focus on areas of highest return, Thorn has exited consumer loans. While it has contributed positively to results over several years, high marketing costs and increasing competition have reduced return on capital for this business.
Capital returned from the book run-off will be reinvested to support the growth of higher returning businesses.

KEY MANAGEMENT

As the financial sector keeps evolving, broader skills are required to operate in a competitive and challenging environment, while continuing to grow.

In FY16, Thorn has made a number of senior appointments to its management team, appointing Peter Forsberg as Chief Financial Officer, Wendy Yip as Chief Risk Officer, Peter Ryan as General Counsel and Matt Ingram, formerly head of Thorn Business Finance, as Chief Operating Officer.

This has given Thorn a sharpened focus on risk, compliance and the efficiency of our businesses and is a contributing factor to the potential we see in business development.