LENDY has reported a bumper rise in profits and revenues last year, alongside strong growth in both new users and value of loans.

The peer-to-peer property lender said on Friday that pre-tax profits increased by 164 per cent to £2.74m in the 12 months to 31 December 2016, while turnover went up by 104 per cent over the same period to £27.5m.

Lendy, which became the new title sponsor of Cowes Week this year, has over 17,500 lenders registered on its platform. It has lent out almost £335m since inception, while its live loan book stands at £166m.

“It has been a very strong year for Lendy, with growth in both turnover and profitability,” said Liam Brooke, director and co-founder of Lendy.

“We have maintained our provision fund in line with our commitment to our lenders, our balance sheet is more robust, and our growth has been closely controlled. We’ve experienced growth in every area of the business and we are now one of the few profitable P2P platforms.”

Read more: Lendy introduces variable pre-funding for loans

Lendy offers investors annual returns ranging between seven and 12 per cent on loans secured against property, with a loan to value that never exceeds 70 per cent.

The platform said it has made “several significant changes” over the past year, with a particular focus on improved due diligence on loans.

Going forward, the platform said it is looking to write more loans with a value of over £10m and make further improvements in its due diligence process.

Read more: Lendy defends secondary market amid liquidity concerns

“We’ve made some major hires from institutional financial services backgrounds to help us to implement this programme, and we’re aiming to make our due diligence approach even more robust moving forward,” said Brooke.

“Another major target this year has been to continue to improve our communications with our lenders. We’ve made big strides already in the first half of the year, from more regular and timely newsletters, more detail on individual loans, supported by up-to-date photography, an improved customer service centre, and faster turnaround of enquiries.”

Lendy said at the time of its half-year review in July that it was continuing to participate in “constructive discussions” with the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) as part of its application for full authorisation.

“Continuing to make improvements to our due-diligence process, working with the FCA on our full authorisation, and developing new features and processes to improve both the quality and liquidity of the available loans market and our ability to recover loans are also key targets for us in 2017,” the report said.