Finance Review: March & April at BCDF

In March, we supported a number of new customers to access affordable finance solutions – this included a courier accessing working capital and a local garage accessing a consolidation loan to restructure some expensive debt.

We are noticing a high demand for consolidation loans recently, with many businesses looking to exit high cost, short term facilties and restructure this into more affordable, long term loans. This can help a company to reduce the burden of repayments on their cashflow, freeing up cash for other uses and protecting their reserves.

Unfortunately, many new and growing companies may unintentionally access high cost finance to grow their business because they believe this is all they are eligible for. This is rarely the truth, and so we encourage these businesses to contact us to fully understand the options available to them. Making the wrong decisions around finance early in the business journey can have devastating effects further down the line – we are here to prevent this.

In April, the release of the Spring Budget revealed few surprises for businesses and the Bank of England base rate remained steady at 4.5%. However, markets have been unsettled by US trade tariffs, leading to some uncertainty for UK business owners.

At BCDF, we continue to see a demand for growth funding and investment. In April, we supported a number of business owners to access affordable finance.

One solution we arranged in April was a large term loan for a local business consultancy. When they contacted BCDF, they operated several coworking facilities around Bristol and had plans to repurpose one of their locations to rent it out to a well-known retailer.

Once the rental agreement had been made, they required a quick turnaround and were working to a strict deadline to get the space ready. The space needed emptying with new fixtures and fittings added throughout, which required cash that the company did not have at the time.

We were able to work with the client to find a lender to take a view on this opportunity, factoring in the rental agreement and future income when assessing the affordability of the loan.