The Start of Something Great

The entire Blue Finance Group met one another in Segovia, Spain to celebrate the company’s 10-year-milestone it reached last year. All four operating regions and almost 40 employees from six different countries were present at the same time – for the very first time, together!

Segovia is a beautiful city on the autonomous community of Castile-Léon and is filled with history. The city is located at the crossing of two rivers, the Eresma and Clamoros, at the foot of the mountain range Sierra de Guadarraman, about an hour drive from Madrid. The city is famous for its historical buildings, some of which include the Roman aqueduct and Alcácar de Segovia, a castle that used as the model for the world famous Walt Disney castle. The city centre was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1985. For us, Segovia was the perfect location and environment to meet our colleagues.

 

The Value of Face to Face Contact is Truly Immeasurable

The main goal of the trip was to relax, get to know each other, and spend time together eating and celebrating, with a side of history and culture. We reached those goals many times over, and we received way more than we could have ever imagined.

As a corporation operating in different regions across Europe, we have always worked remotely and will continue to do so, working through screens, not seeing each other face to face. We even had employees who had never met any colleagues face to face on the trip. Faces were familiar, thanks to the screens, but a deeper connection with colleagues was still missing. After this trip, we truly are not just mystic characters on a Teams screen anymore. We are not just people with names and responsibilities. Now, we are colleagues who know each other much better. Colleagues with whom we can and dare to be our genuine selves. We recognise each other from our laughter. We are certain that from now on, we are going to be much more comfortable with contacting our colleagues and asking for help. We have discovered the real people behind the screen.

The food was delicious, and the history and surrounding environment were captivating, but above all, people welded together even stronger during the trip, and our trust deepened. Indeed, trust is the enabler for building brave and courageous culture of development throughout the entire organisation.

During the trip, we were able to setup four full scale workshops which often continued long into the evening in the form of conversation, accompanied by a glass of wine. The air was filled with belief towards the future – and, moving forward, innovating and sharing together will be that much easier.

Through the productive and entertaining workshop days, we were able to create synergy and launch inspiring new joint projects and ventures. Many of these projects would not have seen the light of day without our shared trip to Segovia.

 

Segovia Will Not Be Our Last Meeting

Our shared trips will continue, that much is certain! We are also going to organise meetings and events for individual teams more often in the future. We operate in several countries, so we will always work remotely with at least some of our colleagues, which means that people are missing out on coffee break chats – consequently, face to face meetings are more important than ever.

We will be reaping the fruits of this trip for quite a while – now, we know each other in a different way, and the increase in trust will create more efficiency, more results, more networks, more opportunities, and most importantly, innovation and new business operations.

 

Did You Know This About Us?

Number of loans doubled, and a start was made on B2B lending. External funding of €8.5 million received.

Blue Finance’s business performance in Denmark has taken great leaps forward during the start of the year. Consumer loans granted by Blue Finance Denmark ApS more than doubled year on year and despite strict regulation the company posted a profit in the first quarter of 2022. A start on corporate lending and a new subsidiary established for vehicle wholesale operation further strengthened the growth outlook for the rest of the year.

Blue Finance Denmark ApS had a strong start to the year and business performance has taken great leaps forward in recent months. Our Danish subsidiary started operations in 2019 and already last year successfully increased revenue by 78% (€3.3m) compared to the corresponding figure (€1.8m) in 2020. During the first quarter of this year, the company outperformed its target and revenue was €780k. Despite strict Danish regulation and a delay in the start of corporate lending to the spring, Blue Finance Denmark returned a profit in the first quarter. Constantly growing lending volumes have been an important factor in the company’s good performance. The amount of loans granted in Denmark during the first part of 2022 alone more than doubled compared to a year earlier.

“Our success in Denmark is a combination of serval factors, says CEO of Blue Finance Denmark,” Nicolai Dam. “We have been able to create a strong brand and a strong product that furthermore is valued by our customers – our score on Trustpilot is as high as 4,7 / 5.”

 

Start of corporate lending and vehicle wholesale operation

In April, we launched a vehicle wholesale operation in Denmark under the Blue Automotive Sales brand. This model gives us an extensive network of vehicle traders, who will pay a daily premium for an exclusive right to sell the vehicles purchased by Blue Automotive Sales.
“We have already made the first agreements with Blue Automotive Sales and we can expect new ones to be signed every week from now. We have a good product and there is really good potential for profitable business in this market, both in the short term and above all in the long run,” says Dam.
At the start of the year, a start was made in Denmark also on scaling up the corporate lending business with personal guarantees under the Broaden brand and this resulted in the first loans being granted soon after. Successful consumer credit in Denmark gives us every reason to expect good results also in corporate lending going forward. The Danish SME market is around €91 billion, 44% greater than Finland’s ~ €63bn.

 

Significant financing enables growth

The Danish business can expect significant growth for the rest of the year. So that we can respond to growing demand for consumer credit and corporate lending, our Danish subsidiary has agreed a total of €8.5 million in external funding. This is intended to above all accelerate growth in consumer credit as well as corporate lending and was received in two tranches. The first tranche was transferred for our use in January this year and we received the second in April.
“A key element in Blue Finance’s strategy is to enable investments in markets like Denmark, where there is future growth potential. The financing now obtained will thus improve the entire group’s profitability,” says CEO of Blue Finance Group, Lauri Lehtonen.