After several years of investing in diversification, Australian Finance Group is back playing to its strengths with a focus firmly on its core broker aggregation business. AFG chief executive David Bailey presented the group’s financial report for the six months to December yesterday, saying the distribution business was the focus on the company’s current investment cycle. Mortgage broker share of home loan distribution hit 72 per cent last year, and AFG brokers arrange around one in 10 home loans.   Bailey said this share would grow as banks continued to close branches. AFG made a profit of A$15.3 million for the half, down 32.3 per cent from the previous corresponding period.  Revenue of $561.1 million was up 6.8 per cent but expenses rose by more, most notably a 32.7 per cent increase in securitisation interest expense to $122.8 million. The distribution division (aggregation services) produced higher earnings, while manufacturing, which covers securitised loans and investments in other financial institutions, was down more than 50 per cent. AFG services 3850 active brokers. The number increased by 50 during the half and the company is keen to continue growing broker relationships. It is investing in digital services to make its brokers more efficient, as well as compliance and data security support. Recent investments include Broker Engine a customer relationship management system designed to make workflow more efficient; and Ambition Cloud, an aggregation platform developed by Fintelligence. On the distribution side, residential mortgage loan settlements for the half were flat at $28.2 billion, although things started to pick up in the December quarter. Commercial and asset finance settlements were up 20 per cent and 33 per cent respectively. In manufacturing AFG Securitisation loan settlements were down 45 per cent to $582 million. Thinktank (which AFG owns 32 per cent) also reported a fall in settlements. AFG has a $209 billion aggregation trail book, which generates 65 per cent of underlying earnings.