Stamford Finance was formed in 2022 by CEO Stuart Fraser and managing director Daryl Cheetham who had previously led infrastructure services provider Network Plus for several years.

This business was acquired by a private equity firm that year, creating what Peter describes as a “major liquidity event”. He already knew Stuart and Daryl in the market and that they wanted to establish their own lender. Peter joined soon after the team set work, growing their book rapidly and the director says being able to operate as self-starters without the pressure of an institutional backer has been an advantage.

“This means we don’t have the pressure on non-deployment of funds,” said Peter. “We can actually pick the deals we want to work on and the borrowers that want to work with us.

“We’re not just throwing money out of the door for the sake of it.”

This helps the firm adopt a more personable approach with borrowers who can quickly talk to the team, who in turn do not need to check with any larger stakeholders or backers.

•   The Finance Professional Show 2024: The Video
•   Lenders not supportive, complain most developers
•   HMO, BTR and PBSA operators warned to prepare for Renters Rights Bill

Peter added: “When you talk to me, or Daryl or Stuart, you're talking to somebody that can actually commit to you and say, yeah, let's get this done.”

Since launching, Stamford Finance has relocated to Altrincham in South Manchester and has a team of six. Peter and his colleagues are “actively” exploring headcount expansion, but enjoying the geographical flexibility of their proposition.

The firm is able to do deals ranging from £500,000 to £5m but Peter is honest in the fact they are gradually doing more deals to the higher end of this range, simply due to the fact the same amount of due diligence is required regardless.

Stamford Finance offers both bridging finance and development finance solutions, but Peter is seeing particularly more opportunities in dev exit loans.

“We've got a dev exit proposition at the minute, which is a 71% net proposition that's just as a result of a bit of due diligence as to where the market is now, you do get some cheaper rates, and you do get some aggressive pricing,” explained Peter.

“Our competitors are in the 60s, while we're at 71% which isn't miles above, but those extra percentage points are really helpful in a doomsday scenario.”

Looking to the market, Peter looks at this as an area of opportunity for the rest of 2025 and into 2026. Overall, he and the team are optimistic about the outlook for the market but are all too aware of how competitive the space has become.

“There's been an influx as well of lenders over the last 24 months, with a lot of people wanting to get their money out the door,” said Peter.

“It's not necessarily the best lenders are getting to the top, there's just been so many lenders.

“Unfortunately, there's only so much that can go around at the minute.”