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Greater Manchester businesses secure finance amidst COVID-19 crisis

A number of local businesses across Greater Manchester have been able to access grants and other sources of finance with specialist support from the Hub.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, numerous businesses have seen a decline in their revenues as a direct result of COVID-19. Our latest business survey (results published on 6th July) indicates that to date more than 72% of Greater Manchester businesses have reported a decrease in sales with one in three facing cashflow issues.

To support UK businesses during the crisis, the government launched several measures and schemes including the:

In Manchester, in our latest survey, over 42% of businesses said that they had already applied for or intended to access loans or grants to support their operations. Amongst these, was Thinkwild, an Oldham based specialist legal IT solutions and training provider.

“With 30 years’ experience working with start-ups through to corporate firms employing more than 3000 employees to create and improve processes, we were interested in expanding the business into North America.”

“When COVID-19 hit though, we were forced to postpone our growth plans and seek funding to support our daily operations.”

Jo-Anne Wild, Managing Director at Thinkwild

Having previously worked with the Hub to define the firm’s core strategic objectives and develop a sustainable ongoing pathway for the business, Jo-Anne re engaged with the specialist teams for support. Working closely with Business Advisor, Anthony Boe from the Growth team and Account Manager, Darren Flannery, Thinkwild were able to review their strategy as well as access the Small Business Grant Fund and secure £10,000. 

 Jo-anne said:

“We were in the system for a small business rates review on the 2nd March but weren’t on the Council’s radar. Darren intervened and liaised with the Council and as a result we were awarded the £10k grant. We couldn’t have done it without him.”

The injection of cash into the business helped plug the funding deficit and enabled Thinkwild to continue operating during the pandemic. In addition, the business is moving forward with its growth plans aiming to expand to Canada by April 2021.

Elsewhere, design and production agency, Letter Workshop also approached the Hub for financial support and guidance.

“By the end of March, we had lost more than 90% sales due to COVID-19 and were facing bankruptcy. The majority of our client sales usually took place during elections and with the May one being postponed because of the pandemic, our sales were significantly impacted.”

Director of Letter Workshop, Charles Glover

Charles worked with specialist Innovation Advisor, Samuel Bafunso and Access to Finance expert, Geoff Clowes who collaboratively reviewed Letter Workshop’s business plan and cashflow forecast and explored the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) as a solution to the business’ cashflow problems. Whilst supporting Charles, the government launched the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS) which was identified as a more suitable scheme offering a fast-tracked loan with a less complex and time-consuming process. Geoff and Samuel assisted Charles to apply for the loan on the 4th May and within seven days, Letter Workshop was approved for a £50k loan by Natwest.

Furthermore, Samuel also suggested exploring R&D Tax credits as another avenue for the client to consider for a quick injection of cash into the business with a referral having been made to three different R&D specialists.

Manchester based Hydrologic Tech Solutions was another client who reached out to the Growth Hub in March seeking access to innovation funding. The business operates within the water utilities sector and their activity is to provide pressure testing equipment for pressure pipes and fittings for use by public water suppliers.

Hydrologic Tech Solutions were interested in implementing a pass/fail computer algorithm for pipe pressure tests following the IGN standards into their prototype. The critical innovative step change would be to add into the algorithm, a measuring of the water temperature via an insertion sensor.

“Currently no other supplier takes temperature into account when running tests and it could cause a huge change in terms of whether or not you achieve a test pass or fail. Incorporating this into our calculations would put our product ahead of the competition, increase sales, profit and employment.”

Anthony Newman, Director at Hydrologic Tech Solutions

Specialist Innovation Advisor, Samuel Bafunso met with the business to discuss the project and helped Anthony access a £5K innovation voucher to accelerate the development of the innovative design which was delivered by the University of Manchester. Samuel also worked with Anthony to conduct market research and analysis to further develop the company’s commercialisation strategy. In addition, he referred the business onto the Access to Finance team, where specialist advisor Geoff Clowes helped Anthony secure a £30k Bounce Back Loan from HSBC.

To further improve the business’ cashflow, Samuel facilitated meetings with another Hub client, RDVault, to explore their eligibility for R&D tax credits, during which a claim between £15 - 20K was identified.

Anthony said:

“Working with the Growth Hub was an incredibly efficient and professional process where the communication lines where always open and the follow up was brilliant. Samuel and Geoff’s help has definitely enabled our business to take a huge step forward and by autumn this year we will be able to offer the water industry a series of new and innovative water-saving products.”

 

 

For personalised guidance on how to secure finance and funding to support your business during the pandemic call us on: 0161 237 4128 or email us at: BGH@growthco.uk

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The information provided is meant as a general guide only rather than advice or assurance. GC Business Growth Hub does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of this information and professional guidance should be sought on all aspects of business planning and responses to the coronavirus. Use of this guide and toolkit are entirely at the risk of the user. Any hyperlinks from this document are to external resources not connected to the GC Business Growth Hub and The Growth Company is not responsible for the content within any hyperlinked site.

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