New figures show FW Capital and the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund have helped Liverpool city region SMEs secure more than £20m in investment. Tony McDonough reports
More than £20m has been invested into Liverpool city region SMEs thanks to FW Capital and the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund (NPIF).
NPIF – FW Capital Debt Finance, managed by FW Capital and part of the NPIF, has invested £12m directly with a further £11m leveraged from private sector investors. This has led to the creation of more than 200 jobs.
FW Capital will be able to help even more businesses as it can now also lend to business-to-consumer sectors (B2C). It is keen to talk to businesses in the retail, hospitality, and leisure sectors about how NPIF could help them.
Carol Bolland, an investment executive in FW Capital’s Liverpool office said: “We can lend from £100,000 to £750,000. Businesses can access high value finance without having to consider equity funding. This means they don’t have to sell a stake in their business and can retain full control.
“Our ability now to invest in B2C businesses means that we are able to lend to some of the sectors hardest hit by the pandemic such as hospitality. We are delighted that we can now help to support them as the economy recovers and we would encourage these businesses to get in touch regarding the Recovery Loan Scheme which we are accredited for”
One notable NPIF – FW Capital investment in to the B2C sector in the Liverpool city region is Wirral Care Services which received a loan last year to support the business through the uncertainty caused by the pandemic.
The company is run by husband-and-wife team Mike and Catharine Chalton with offices in Prenton and West Kirby. It provides specialist dementia care and domiciliary care services to the elderly and vulnerable throughout the Wirral area.
Mr Chalton said: “The pandemic caused a great deal of uncertainty in the care sector and we needed a buffer to ensure that we could continue to offer a high quality care service to our customers, many of who were left even more isolated and vulnerable.
“We received a loan which helped to cover additional costs to the business such as PPE and recruiting extra staff. FW Capital clearly guided us through the funding process, and we were able to access the finance in a short period of time.
“Despite 2020 being a difficult year, we have managed to grow and recently acquired an office in Chester so we will expand our offering to the Chester and West Cheshire area.”
The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund project is supported financially by the European Union using funding from the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) as part of the European Structural and Investment Funds Growth Programme 2014-2020 and the European Investment Bank.