Reward Finance Group, the Leeds and Manchester-based alternative funder, has demonstrated its growing appetite to lend having advanced £8m across 20 deals in just ten working days, beating the previous number of deals set over a whole month.
Working with Leeds law firm Clarion, the money has been provided to a cross section of industries from manufacturing through to retail & leisure, indicating there is no let-up in companies wanting to borrow money, even during the usually quiet holiday period.
One of the companies to benefit is successful Leeds-based pub group, the Little Tap Company, which has used Reward previously for short term loans.
Managing director of the company, Chris Renouccie, approached Reward for £200,000 to fund its Christmas refurbishment programme.
“With the work scheduled in, we needed a quick decision which, at this time of year, can be well-nigh impossible especially if you were to go down the traditional high street bank route,” he said. “With many in the financial and legal world on holiday, there is a tendency for some to use it as an additional excuse to slow things down even more.
“We knew Reward could turn things around quickly which meant the loan was paid out within four days, enabling us to get on with the programme.”
Group Sales & Marketing Director at Reward Finance Group, Nick Smith, is delighted with the performance of the company over the last fortnight.
“It was great to get all these deals away prior to the Bank Holiday. Many companies are resigned to the fact that decisions can take many weeks at this time of year, which leaves them in a state of limbo,” he said.
“We know that companies can’t wait that long, as it could result in them losing an order or prevent them from growing the business. That’s why we make it a priority to turn matters around within a few days whatever time of year.”
Reward’s performance reflects the current state of the lending market which, according to figures published by the Asset Based Finance Association, has seen asset based finance taking market share from traditional overdrafts, as banks continue to be constrained in their lending to SMEs.
The organisation states that, “smaller businesses are increasingly seeing asset based funding as a suitable way to unlock the value of a range of business assets to enable growth investment and free up working capital.”