Stuart Whittle has joined Hippo Motor Group as its new chief monetary officer, with a remit to create a digitally targeted development technique for its three companies, Hippo Leasing, Caruno and Hippo Accredited, its used automotive retail arm lately rebranded from Hippo Status.

Whittle has greater than 20 years’ finance expertise and previous to becoming a member of the Blackburn-based agency held senior management roles within the automobile, property and banking sectors, together with Shut Motor Finance, LSL Property Providers and Leeds Constructing Society.

Director Tom Preston mentioned: “We’ve loved phenomenal development over the previous few years via funding in our workforce, know-how, and state-of-the-art amenities. This yr alone we’ve got elevated our workforce by 50% and bought new websites, so we are actually equipped able to hit our targets within the coming years.

“So as to preserve our aggressive edge in a busy sector it is important that we’ve got a strong finance chief and we’re assured we’ve got that in Stuart, who might be an actual asset not only for Hippo but in addition for our personal lending arm Oasis Motor Finance”.

The enterprise has places of work in Blackburn, Manchester and Luton with additional enlargement in Derby and Corby coming quickly.

In 2022 the group achieved £117 million turnover and £3.3n pre-tax revenue, and its accounts acknowledged that it was being geared up to extend its gross sales quantity by 50%

“Hippo is a enterprise which prides itself on customer support excellence, so our individuals are our most necessary asset. Stuart has the expertise to ship a robust finance future in addition to the skillset and qualities to guide his workforce and assist them thrive.”

Whittle mentioned: “Hippo is a dynamic enterprise and Tom has a transparent imaginative and prescient of its future place throughout the market and the way we get there. I’m delighted to affix the workforce at this important chapter within the Hippo journey and may’t wait to get caught into the function.”