Liberty Financial produced credible earnings and asset growth over the year to June 2015, a result bound to add to conjecture over its prospects as a trade sale or ASX float candidate.Controlled by its founder and managing director, Sherman Ma, Liberty reported net assets at the end of the financial year of A$358 million, all but $21 million of this retained earnings.Net profit for the year was $56.9 million, a rise of 21 per cent over the year, working out to a return on average net assets of better than 16 per cent and a return on assets of 1.6 per cent.Growth in receivables over the year was ten per cent, which was about 1.3 times the rate of growth for banks overall last year in the mortgage market.The group may be aiming to lift this rate of growth, with Liberty soon to start a new marketing drive presenting itself as a consumer finance brand.Talk of preparation for an initial public offer must remain just that.
Peter Riedel, the chief financial officer, said on Friday that the IPO option had "been discussed at a high level" in the past, but "there are no plans to examine an IPO in the short term."