Hickory’s Smokehouse has received a £13m funding package from leading alternative lender ThinCats to help accelerate its active roll out of restaurants. The first Hickory’s Smokehouse opened in Chester in 2010 following founder Neil McDonnell’s extensive research into the American BBQ and smokehouse sector. The team behind Hickory’s has been operating in Chester for 20 […]
Metro Bank opens its 72nd store on Friday 10 and Saturday 11 January in Wolverhampton. To mark the occasion, Metro Bank is inviting businesses, residents and four-legged friends to the two-day grand opening party. The fun will kick off at 8am on Friday 10 January, with entertainment including stilt walkers, a DJ, free manicures and […]
B-North, the Manchester-based firm building an SME lending bank for the UK, has secured in excess of £2m of fund raising from new and existing investors through equity crowdfunding platform Crowdcube and Growthfunders, adding to the £4.2m it has raised in previous rounds. The news follows the announcement in December that B-North has selected Newcastle […]
Default ratios among bank loan portfolios have been steadily decreasing since 2016 – dropping from 1.12% to 0.73% in 2018, according to a new report from Global Credit Data (GCD), a not-for-profit data-collection initiative jointly owned by more than 50 leading global banks. Data from the report, which is designed to help banks benchmark their […]
Overall business confidence rose for the fourth consecutive month in December, according to the latest findings from the Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking Business Barometer. The survey, taken before the general election results was known, shows the one point increase took business confidence to 10%, driven by an improvement in businesses optimism about their own trading […]
Despite an intense political climate and uncertain economic ground over the third quarter of this year, business confidence is stable. This is reflected in the latest SME Health Check Index, which shows a bounce back from the lowest ever recorded score in Q2. The report from Virgin Money UK, owner of Clydesdale and Yorkshire […]
Noting that the UK’s seven major financial institutions all passed the Bank of England’s latest annual stress test, S&P Global Ratings said the results were not a surprise given that the groups are comfortably positioned relative to current regulatory capital and leverage requirements, including buffers. The results confirm the balance sheet resilience of the major […]
Praetura, the group of companies that provides alternative finance to SMEs, is expanding with the launch of a £40m fund designed to provide rapid finance to professional services firms. Praetura Enterprise Finance aims to support professional services firms – such as accountants, solicitors and other practices – and SMEs from other sectors with funding that […]
Metro Bank is accepting registrations for its new on-demand cash collection and delivery service to support the 4.2 million UK SMEs that rely on cash. The launch is the latest in a long list of innovations brought to the market by the Bank – from instant debit card printing in store and seven day a […]
Europe’s private equity industry has shifted into buying mode, deploying large pools of capital while delaying exits, according to provisional full-year data from the CMBOR at Imperial College Business School, sponsored by Equistone Partners Europe and Investec Corporate and Investment Banking. The cumulative value of European buyouts passed €100bn for a joint-record third consecutive year […]
