£3m facility for refrigeration specialist
Refrigeration and air conditioning specialist Flowrite Services has received a £2.925m funding facility from Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance.
Established in 1992, Flowrite Services has grown to become the UK’s leading provider of refrigeration and air conditioning services. It specialises in the maintenance and installation of refrigeration units and walk-in coolers for the retail and hospitality sector. The company operates on an ongoing or reactive basis for a number of household names such as McDonalds, Nando’s and KFC.
Headquartered in Maidstone, Flowrite offers nationwide coverage with over 100 engineers working across the country. In total, the company employs 140 staff and plans to increase this number by 5% in the next two years following the cash injection.
The funding is comprised of £2.75m invoice finance, with a further £175k loan secured against existing property. This will help the business to free up vital cash flow and enable Flowrite to invest in a new intelligent response unit for its customer base. This new technology will work as a remote monitoring tool, which will allow the engineers to identify potential issues with customers’ equipment before they occur.
This deal follows an impressive period of growth for Secure Trust Bank, who recently announced it had agreed £94.2m worth of lending to UK SMEs in the year to June 30 2017 – a 72% increase on last year’s figures over the same period.
Tod Harrison, chief executive officer at Flowrite Services, said:
“Malfunctioning equipment can have a damaging effect on our clients’ income. Having seen this first-hand, we needed support to develop a system that could help prevent this. We are now able to offer unrivalled service to our customers and strengthen our reputation in dealing with requests and issues promptly.
“Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance understood the opportunity that the business had, as well as taking the time to understand the challenges, and were able to provide funding we needed. Working with the decision makers at the firm guaranteed a flexible facility we needed in a tight time scale and truly exceeded all our expectations.”
Tony Young, regional sales director at Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance, said:
“Flowrite Services is a fantastic business with a number of impressive clients. To take its offering to the next level, it needed a facility that could grow alongside the business and allow it to invest in additional staff and innovative solutions for its customers.
“We worked closely with the management team to create a flexible form of finance that suits the company’s needs. With this new line of funding, Flowrite has the capability to expand its reach and source additional blue chip clients. We’re looking forward to building on our existing relationship to support Flowrite’s progress in the coming years.”
