The average SME is waiting 56 days to be paid – almost double what Ombudsman Kate Carnell is seeking big business to commit to – and it is smaller businesses who are most impacted. Independent research conducted by market analysts East & Partners on behalf of national SME funder Scottish Pacific found a huge disparity […]
Shawbrook Bank confirmed a strong financial performance for the year as it published its 2019 annual report and accounts. The UK-focussed specialist lender increased profit before tax by 11% during the period ending 31st December 2019 to £122.4m. The bank experienced a 15% increase in its loan book to £6.8bn, with its property finance and […]
Hotel and restaurant proprietors, Laurence and Helen Beere, who own and manage The Queensberry Hotel and Olive Tree Restaurant in Bath, have completed a £450,000 loan by accessing the scheme through Barclays. The boutique hotel and Michelin Star restaurant which employs 45 people has had to close due to the Covid-19 pandemic. The Barclays loan […]
A Cardiff-based business can continue designing and building sets for West End productions post-lockdown with the support of Lloyds Bank. Bay Productions, which works with renowned opera and theatre producers including Cameron Mackintosh and the English National Opera, has secured a six-figure funding package via the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS). The funding will […]
New research shows that the government needs to do more to save small businesses in the wake of the coronavirus crisis. The research, compiled by Vala Capital and the Enterprise Investment Scheme Association (EISA) based on feedback from more than 250 SMEs, shows that: 71% of small firms won’t survive six months without funding equity […]
Figures released by the banking lobby group UK Finance showed that only one in five UK businesses who have formally applied for government-backed loans have been granted emergency funding during the COVID-19 lockdown. A total of 6,020 loans worth £1.1bn had been issued under the coronavirus business interruption loan scheme (CBILS) as of Tuesday. That […]
Funding Circle, the small business loans platform, has today been approved for accreditation by the British Business Bank under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS), term loan variant. Funding Circle expects to open CBILS applications within the next week once it has completed the required legal and operational approvals with the Bank. Keith Morgan, […]
Ebury, one of Europe’s largest fintech companies, has been granted approval in the Netherlands to provide SMEs with loans under the government’s SME Credit Guarantee Scheme, which was launched in response to the coronavirus crisis. The scheme, which is available to Dutch businesses with fewer than 250 employees, provides government guarantees for loans of up […]
A Somerset farm business, wedding venue and B&B – currently hosting French and American tourists unable to travel home amid COVID-19 lockdown – has secured an emergency funding package from Lloyds Bank after it was forced to cancel or postpone hundreds of bookings. Huntstile Organic Farm, based in Goathurst near Bridgwater, which normally hosts about […]
UK fintech Portify today released a report analysing the direct economic impact of COVID-19 on self-employed and gig economy workers. Despite the announcement of the £3bn support package for these workers, the results of the report warn that the support from the UK Treasury may be too late to help those already under financial strain. […]
