Securing business funding can be notoriously challenging in many sectors, including sheet metal industries. This is especially so following a prolonged period of uncertainty impacted by a financial crisis, Brexit, a pandemic, a war in Europe, an energy crunch, rising inflation and elevated interest rates.
But it doesn’t have to be prohibitive for those in sheet metal industries, according to Compass Business Finance’s latest white paper on Asset Based Lending (ABL). Unlocking Capital: Strategic Advantages of Asset-Based Lending details how to leverage business assets for growth and stability.
Asset-based lending is comprised of a combination of two or more types of finance that together achieve the overall funding package required. The result is often access to significantly higher levels of working capital than conventional methods of funding. It is also especially useful for raising working capital for restructuring, acquisitions, management buyouts (MBOs), and management buy-ins (MBIs).
The white paper shares how asset-based lending is now supported by the British Business Bank through the Growth Guarantee Scheme (GGS). The ABL variant allows an increased percentage of loan to value (LTV) against key assets, combining the benefits of the existing term loan, revolving credit facility, invoice finance and asset finance variants of the scheme.
It also highlights how ABL has been instrumental in the growth and success of a number of businesses. Case studies detailed include Browns Print Limited, Manchester, that was acquired by Tim Guest, Chairman. Tim used a mixture of private funds and an ABL facility including a loan and asset finance to refresh the plant in the factory. Detailed too, was how the investment team at Affinity Packaging Limited, formed from a buyout of Leyprint in February 2014, settled on a mix of Invoice Finance, Asset Finance, Property, term loan and deferred consideration funding.
“Central to getting the most from an ABL facility is finding the right lender,” states David Bunker, Compass Director. “Since Compass’s inception in 2005, we’ve been helping businesses carefully select which finance product is right and accurately matching lenders and customers in a broad range of sectors, sheet metal industries included. As a lender ourselves and a broker to over 25 banks we are able to put customers’ needs at the forefront of arranging an ABL facility. This white paper provides an overview of the funding options to choose from and some examples of how businesses have thrived after having identified their perfect mix. Compass Business Finance can be there from first contact to offer guidance throughout the process.”
