Henry Howard Finance agrees £51 million facility with British Business Bank as last year’s re-structure pays dividends

HHF, backed by investor Cabot Square Capital and based in Newport, is the first South Wales-based lender to become a partner of the British Business Bank.

It has been providing finance to small businesses for over 20 years and last year it saw its lending grow to more than £70 million from £40 million. It aims to continue its expansion throughout 2016.

One firm benefitting from HHF’s asset finance solution is Caldicot Fleet Maintenance Recovery, which over five years tripled in size following the purchase of a number of new vehicles made possible by HHF’s support. It now has 50 heavy and light recovery vehicles up from just six trucks in 2011.

Mark Crook, co-founder and chief operating officer at Henry Howard Finance (pictured above), said: “The British Business Bank is currently supporting 1,116 businesses across Wales with over £110 million of finance, and the British Business Bank-supported Startup Loans programme has made over 1,350 loans totalling around £9.8 million in Wales.

“The delivery of this facility through the ENABLE Funding programme will continue to build on past successes and help businesses across England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales to scale up and grow.

Keith Morgan, British Business Bank CEO, added: “Henry Howard Finance has a proven track record in providing much-needed asset finance to small businesses and this facility will help it significantly increase its asset finance lending to smaller businesses across the UK.

“This is the third transaction in our ENABLE funding programme and we have now provided a total of £202 million to non-bank asset finance providers.”

Henry Howard Finance achieved a record year lending more than £70 million in 2015.

It is forecast to lend more than £100 million this year with plans to grow staff numbers to at least 100 by 2017.

The huge rise in lending was driven largely by the creation of HH Asset Finance and HH Cashflow Finance 18 months ago, Mark Crook explained.

HHF restructured into four divisions, HH Vendor, HH Asset, HH Cashflow and HH Retail Finance, in 2014 following a £25 million investment from Cabot Square Capital.

This has allowed the company to offer more specialised financial products and extend its reach across the UK. Since the investment, staff numbers have grown by about 60% to more than 90, with a new office opening in Solihull to add to those in Newport and London.

In the last 12 months significant advances have been made in the technology used to run HHF, giving customers and partners access to leading financial products.