Member Article

Northumberland firms hit £30 million investment milestone

Northumberland firms have benefited from more than £30m of investment from the Finance for Business North East funds.

Companies in the county have received £13.8m from the FBNE programme since it launched in 2010. A further £18.5m of private sector cash has been raised to support deals from venture capital firms, business angels and other investors – taking the overall investment figure to £32.3m.

The 75 Northumberland-based beneficiaries of the fund include Cramlington-based PMC Pharmaceuticals, which is using the £250,000 it received from FBNE’s Growth Plus Fund to grow the business and begin wholesaling drugs from its warehousing facilities on the South Nelson Industrial Estate.

Meanwhile, concrete pre-fabricated bathroom maker Aartoft secured a second tranche of money from the North East Growth Fund, which is managed by NEL Fund Managers, to kick-start the next phase of its expansion.

The Lynemouth-based firm, which previously received £300,000 from the fund in 2013, was backed late last year by a further £200,000, which will allow the firm to grow its workforce and strengthen its hand in the UK market.

William Johnson, director and head of UK sales and manufacturing at Aartoft, said: “The recent FBNE investment marks the next phase of our growth and will allow us to offer a wider range of products and services. Programmes such as FBNE are vital for businesses that need additional finance to expand, especially with funding from mainstream banks still hard to come by.”

Yvonne Gale, operations director at NEL Fund Managers, added: “Aartoft provides a great example of how investment capital can be progressively used to support the different stages of a business’s development, and of how Growth Fund investments have been creating new employment and regional wealth over the last five years.”

Jason Hobbs, finance director at North East Finance, said: “Companies such as Aartoft and PMC Pharmaceuticals are creating wealth and jobs on the back of the FBNE investments, which is exactly what the programme was designed to achieve. Venture capital is playing a major role in driving forward the economic recovery, which has started to gain momentum after a very challenging few years.”

Since its launch in 2010, FBNE has provided £118m of debt and equity funding to almost 700 SMEs, creating or safeguarding around 4,500 jobs. In addition, the programme has secured more than £130m of private sector cash to support deals from venture capital firms, business angels and other investors.

The programme is on course to achieve its intended goal of assisting more than 900 businesses, and creating or safeguarding over 5,000 jobs, by the end of 2015.