Finance company FlexiGroup has pursued an active diversification strategy over the past few years, using a combination of acquisition and organic growth to build on its traditional FlexiRent point-of-sale leasing business.That diversification paid off in the December half. The FlexiRent business was hit by the retail downturn and reported volume growth of only three per cent and no growth in net profit.But FlexiGroup's new businesses helped deliver overall volume growth of 20 per cent and a 13 per cent increase in net profit.On a cash basis, net profit rose from A$25 million in the six months to December 2010 to $28.2 million in the latest half.Diversification of the business got underway in 2008 when FlexiGroup bought Certegy, a provider of purchase payment plans. Consumers pay an application fee and a monthly processing fee but no interest. The retailer pays Certegy for the cost of the finance.The average purchase under a Certegy plan is $2500 and consumers have up to 24 months to complete their payments. Certegy's volumes rose 22 per cent over the previous corresponding period to $218 million. Receivables increased from $229 million in the six months to December 2010 to $321 million in the latest half - an increase of 40 per cent.Certegy's contribution to the bottom line rose 58 per cent to $9.5 million.In 2009, FlexiGroup launched BLiNK, a business selling mobile broadband plans. It currently has 77,000 customers - up from 63,000 a year ago. BLiNK contributed $1.7 million of net profit in the December half - up six per cent on the previous corresponding period. Also in 2009, the company launched FlexiCommercial, a business-to-business equipment leasing operation. Its sales volumes grew 81 per cent over the past year - from $26 million in the December 2010 half to $47 million in the latest half. FlexiCommercial's receivables grew 183 per cent to $99 million over the same period and its profit contribution rose 55 per cent to $1.7 million.FlexiGroup chief executive John DeLano said the group was continuing to look for new business opportunities. DeLano said: "We look for under-serviced markets and see if we can use any of our skills there. We also look for opportunities to innovate in those markets."The company's latest move is into online payments. Last year it acquired Paymate, a secure online payment service with 3500 business customers. The deal will be completed in March."Our bricks and mortar partners are taking their businesses online and this allows us to work with them," DeLano said.DeLano said the group had made big changes to its funding structure, using securitisation to achieve a lower cost of funds. The group has $770 million of receivables. About $200 million of this is in bank securitisation warehouses and $140 million is in securitisation trusts.DeLano said this was an efficient funding structure for the group.