OakNorth Bank completes £1.4m loan to Newcastle based automotive manufacturer to support future growth

OakNorth Bank, the London based, entrepreneur focussed bank has provided a £1.4m loan to Clavis IDS, the Newcastle based manufacturer of automotive assembly line testing equipment which is part of Integrated Display Systems (IDS).

Founded in 1980, IDS is a niche engineering company operating in the design and manufacture of belt tension measurement and automotive production line assembly equipment including hose clamp detection systems, that have become even more pertinent with the increased production of electric vehicles (EV).

In the last 12 years, IDS has received numerous patents and independent accolades for innovation and technological achievement, most notably being awarded the Queen’s Award for Enterprise, said to be the “most prestigious business award in the UK”, on six occasions.

With top-10 customers including Ford, BMW, Ducati, and Volvo, IDS is recognised as an “industry leader” for designing and manufacturing automotive equipment, shipping its products to 45 countries worldwide. In 2018, the business completed a management buyout which part of the OakNorth Bank loan will help refinance.

Andrew Punton, managing director of Clavis IDS, commented: “The global Industrial Assembly Equipment market is worth $136bn and has seen exponential growth over the last few years against a backdrop of efficiency improvements such as assembly robots in the production and assembling processes.

“Despite the impact of COVID on our customers, we’ve managed to deliver against our plan since the management buyout, and thanks to this capital from OakNorth Bank, are well placed to continue growing as the automotive sector recovers and production lines are restarted.

“We’ve taken out business loans before, but the OakNorth experience was very different – speedy, transparent, and entrepreneurial. As a business celebrated for its innovation, we appreciate the innovative approach OakNorth Bank has taken to commercial lending.”

Al Morris, director of debt finance at OakNorth Bank, continued: “Over the last four decades, Clavis has managed to garner numerous patents, as well as multiple industry accolades, and build a loyal client base with some of the world’s best known automotive brands.

“It is remarkable what this 16-person team led by Andrew and Mark Errington, Andrew’s business partner, has managed to achieve, but just goes to show the incredible innovation and engineering capabilities we have in the North.”