McMillan Shakespeare Group has made a good start in retail financial services, with its new division making an EBITDA contribution of A$11.2 million to group EBITDA of $65.8 million during the six months to December.Group net profit was $38.9 million - a 25.1 per cent increase over the previous corresponding period. Return on equity was 23 per cent.The remuneration and fleet leasing specialist entered the consumer finance market in February last year, when it acquired the automotive industry finance company Presidian.Presidian provides finance, warranty and insurance products to the automotive industry, specialising in the used car segment. It has a distribution network of car dealers, finance brokers and 14 retail branches trading under the name Money Now.In July McMillan Shakespeare followed up the Presidian deal with the acquisition of the vehicle and leisure goods finance specialist United Financial Services.These businesses are engaged in brokerage, aggregation and origination but they do not lend off their balance sheets. This means they do not have any significant capital requirements.Those combined businesses, which constitute McMillan Shakespeare's financial services division, distribute through 4000 auto dealers and 600 finance brokers.At the end of December retail financial services had $450.7 million of assets financed, $12.9 million of gross written premium and 39,400 warranties. McMillan Shakespeare chief executive Mike Salisbury said there would be cost savings as integration of the two acquisitions into the group was completed.He said there was potential for cross-sell of warranty products to car leasing clients.