A vehicle finance business from Cheshire is one of the 10 fastest growing companies in the UK.

Auto Union Finance (AUF), based at Warrington, was seventh in the Deloitte Indy 100 Award, run by Deloitte and Touche and Independent on Sunday, having shown amazing growth and profitability during the last four years.

Formed in 1993 by John Pattinson, now group MD, and fellow director Alan Taylor, AUF has grown from a staff of seven and a turnover of £600,000 to a national group, with nearly 90 people and turnover of £38m.

Pattinson, who worked at Black Horse Finance for 11 years, says: “Auto Union Finance has grown fast and it’s been about controlling the growth. We have kept on recruiting and kept on building. There is a saying: turnover for vanity, profit for sanity, so it’s important for any award such as this to recognise profitability as well as turnover.”

Now one of the largest independent finance intermediaries in the UK, AUF managed in excess of £200m of finance proposals last year and brokered deals worth £60m. It now wants to finance deals with its own money and discussions are taking place with banks with a money pool of up to £4m being considered.

Pattinson adds: “We carry out business with 20 finance houses and can place just about any business, from corporate customers, prime finance for cars like BMWs, to people with adverse credit.”