Henry Howard Finance agrees £51m facility with British Business Bank
Independent lender Henry Howard Finance today announced that it has agreed a £51m asset finance facility with the British Business Bank. The facility, which is 50% guaranteed by the European Investment Fund, will allow Henry Howard to extend its asset finance funding to a larger portfolio of smaller UK businesses.
Henry Howard, backed by investor Cabot Square Capital and based in Newport, is the first South Wales-based lender to become a partner of the British Business Bank. It has been providing finance to small businesses for over 20 years and last year it saw its lending grow to more than £70m from £40m. It aims to continue its expansion throughout 2016.
One firm benefitting from HHF’s asset finance solution is Caldicot Fleet Maintenance Recovery, who over five years tripled in size following the purchase of a number of new vehicles made possible by HHF’s support. It now has 50 heavy and light recovery vehicles up from just six trucks in 2011.
The British Business Bank is currently supporting 1,116 businesses across Wales with over £110m of finance, and the British Business Bank-supported Startup Loans programme has made over 1,350 loans totalling around £9.8m in Wales. The delivery of this facility through the ENABLE Funding programme will continue to build on past successes and help businesses across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to scale up and grow.
Sajid Javid, Business Secretary, said:
“Every growing business needs to invest in the right tools to get the job done, whether that’s upgraded laptops or new delivery trucks.
“This £51m facility backed by the British Business Bank and the EIF will allow small firms to get new equipment without taking a big hit to their cashflow. This means they can continue to grow, create jobs and benefit local communities across Wales and the rest of the UK.”
Mark Crook, co-founder and chief operating officer at Henry Howard Finance, said:
“We are delighted to be working with the British Business Bank to boost much needed funding for SME asset procurement.
“Access to asset finance is a major barrier to growth for many small businesses. We hope the new facility will remove this barrier and allow more SMEs to grow and prosper.”
Keith Morgan, British Business Bank CEO, said:
“Henry Howard Finance has a proven track record in providing much-needed asset finance to small businesses and this facility will help it significantly increase its asset finance lending to smaller businesses across the UK.
“This is the third transaction in our ENABLE funding programme and we have now provided a total of £202m to non-bank asset finance providers.”
Pier Luigi Gilibert, chief executive, EIF, said:
“We are very pleased to see that our collaboration with the British Business Bank is working so well in supporting UK SMEs.
“This new EIF guarantee on the asset finance funding facility now brings the total finance available under the ENABLE programme to over £200m, for UK entrepreneurs.
“In addition, we have recently further developed our collaboration with the British Business Bank by signing a new EC-backed guarantee transaction.”