A record month for funding at Bibby Financial Services
Funding limits of £40m agreed for new clients in July alone
Bibby Financial Services (BFS) increased its funding to businesses in July in what is the funder’s best month on record.
BFS made 114 funding agreements, providing funding limits of over £40m, to new business clients in July. BFS chief executive, David Postings, said results highlight more and more businesses moving away from traditional bank-lending.
He said: “There has been an important step-change in attitudes towards non-bank lending over recent months. The tides are turning as businesses are seeing the value and benefit of other forms of finance, such as invoice finance and asset based lending more broadly.
“Across the board, we have seen a huge increase in funding to businesses of all sizes, across a broad spectrum of industry sectors.
David added: “Our corporate team, which deal with larger businesses, construction finance team and trade business each had record months for new funding. This is a fantastic achievement for us, but it also provides a significant boost to UK PLC”.
Both introduced and direct business has increased for the independent funder. Commenting on this, David said it is a sign that BFS has successfully managed to build-on existing and develop new broker relationships, while enhancing its digital offering for businesses. He said: “We’re extremely grateful to the introducer community that has continued to work with us to generate new business. Furthermore, our teams across the UK have been able to develop new relationships throughout the first half of the year and this has paid dividends in terms of the number of funding agreements we have made.
“Additionally, our digital team has completed phase one of our new website,and this has seen us increase direct business, which is also fantastic.”
Results come following a BFS study of 1,000 businesses – with turnover of up to £25m–which found that well over half (59%) expect to invest in recruitment, training and technology in the months leading to October. Findings from the SME Tracker show that of those looking to invest, a quarter will spend on technology and equipment (27%); one in five (20%) will recruit new staff and one in four (23%) will invest in employee training programmes.
In addition to securing finance to fulfil these investment plans, David said the jump in funding is down to growing awareness of invoice finance. He said: “It’s clear that UK SMEs are investing for the future, which is extremely positive so it’s vital that they have funding in place to facilitate these growth aspirations.
“SMEs are spreading their gaze when it comes to finance. Gone are the days when bank loans and overdrafts would be the first and only ports of call for businesses looking for finance.”
