Conister reports record lending in 2020
Conister Finance & Leasing Limited (“Conister”), part of Manx Financial Group PLC (AIM:MFX), today announces that it achieved record lending levels in 2020, by advancing deals totalling £131m, representing a 7% increase on the total amount lent throughout 2019 (£122m), by providing critical funding to small and medium sized enterprises (“SME”) as they navigate the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
The growth in funding facilities can in part be attributed to Conister’s accreditation to various government backed loan schemes to help support struggling businesses in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic. Through the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (“CBILS”), Conister has advanced £9m in vital funding across 35 loans and recently announced that it had applied for and received an additional allocation of £5m to focus on resilient businesses still seeking funding.
Conister has consistently supported the government’s financial assistance for UK businesses which it believes has been a crucial lifeline to many. In addition to the CBILS lending, Conister has advanced a further £9m across 246 loans through the Bounce Back Loans Scheme (“BBLS”), against an initial allocation limit of £10m.
Douglas Grant, managing director of Conister, commented: “We must ensure that the financial security of businesses is protected to allow those that are sustainable to flourish in the future. Up to now, the BBLS and CBILS have performed a fundamental role in keeping many SMEs alive and acted as an important triage system to identify and support qualifying businesses needing credit. However, we believe that we have now passed this phase. Unfortunately, we must recognise that many businesses will not survive this pandemic, particularly if provided with an unsustainable debt burden. It is imperative for the future that we now focus on identifying and protecting our most resilient business sectors.”
“At Conister we have delivered upon all of our initial objectives. We had an allocation limit of £20m for the CBILS and BBLS schemes and so far, we have lent £18m, and we will fully allocate the remaining £2m in the coming weeks. Without doubt, the scale of applications was enormous and so we applied for and received an additional allocation of £5m for the CBILS scheme and we will focus lending this to robust business sectors that we believe will thrive in the future. Conister will continue to do all it can, working alongside government and traditional lenders, to support British businesses.”
Jo Dyer, portfolio business Mmanager at First Business Securities, a recipient of a BBLS loan facility through Conister, said: “Conister showed the support and leadership we needed when we first received an increase in requests for payment holidays in April, leading to an ever more likely cash-flow problem. We were impressed with their speed and efficiency and their service won’t be forgotten in future.”
