Tooling Finance is tailored to manufacturers with a proven track record in the automotive supply chain, and provides up to 90 per cent of the project cost upfront, with typical terms of up to 24 months.
By freeing up cash that would otherwise be tied up in machinery, tooling finance aims to take the pressure off working capital and providing ambitious businesses with the capital to invest in growth.
It has been developed specifically to back the 2,049 firms and 78,000 workers in the UK automotive supply chain, and comes with support from Lloyds Bank’s manufacturing relationship managers.
Dave Atkinson, UK head of manufacturing for SME, Lloyds Bank Commercial Banking, said: “We have a deep understanding of automotive manufacturing and know that the UK is one of the most attractive locations for investment in the sector. As a result, our clients through the supply chain are seeing increasing opportunities for growth.
“We also understand that high up-front costs can make investing in growth very difficult for firms that are looking to grow. To help them, we have developed a tooling finance solution that will support automotive manufacturers and suppliers in funding bespoke tooling.
“With end production sometimes not occurring until 12-24 months after tooling requirements are identified, cashflow pressures can affect working capital. Tooling finance can help alleviate that pressure.”
Lloyds Bank has pledged to provide £1 billion of new funding to the manufacturing sector every year until 2017 and has invested in training more than 300 manufacturing specialists, accredited by the Warwick Manufacturing Group through the University of Warwick.
