Aussie John fights on

You’ve got to love an entrepreneur with a bit of bravado.

“I do relish the tough times,” Symond told reporters yesterday, when opening a new Aussie Home Loans store on the Gold Coast.

“I see it as an opportunity and look on the upside, put the armour on and jump in the trenches. This is an opportunity to improve, but you have to be brave.”

There’s a good reason Aussie John has a bit of a swagger in his step.

He claims turnover for Aussie Home Loans doubled in March to a record $2 billion, thanks to the integration of the Wizard Home Loans business into the Aussie empire. And despite the recession, Symond thinks he can keep the good times rolling.

“We expect to hold that position. We are in a strong enough position to provide an alternative to the big banks.”

Symond is emerging as one of the big winners from the recession. Aussie paid GE Money just $26 million for the Wizard business in December 2008, a huge discount to the $500 million GE paid entrepreneur Mark Bouris in 2004.

Symond says he remains on the look out for more acquisitions. A few weeks ago, he expressed interest in the LJ Hooker real estate chain, a franchise operation currently owned by Queensland bank Suncorp Metway, which has some pretty big problems of its own right now.

If Symond can pick up another franchise bargain, Aussie’s position as the major non-bank mortgage provider will be cemented.

He is also looking to bring more franchisees into the Aussie business, with News.com.au reporting that Symond wants to go from 140 Aussie stores (including the re-badged Wizard network) to 200 outlets by next year.

The recession might even help him with this goal. Most franchisors are expecting a big jump in franchisee candidates as unemployment rises and former middle managers are set loose with big redundancy cheques.

Of course, there is a big stumbling block here – the state of the economy and the state of the housing market, which could put the brakes on revenue growth for mortgage brokers.

Symond acknowledged this yesterday by calling for the increased first home owner grant on existing homes to be cut (although he supports the stimulatory effects of the enlarged grant for new homes).

“The first home buyers’ grant is overheating. That’s a concern,” he says. “This grant was not designed to help the vendor. When housing drops 5% to 10%, this is when people will be in trouble.”