Case study: Hoverdale

Hoverdale makes world-class hard metals and wear-resistant products for the mining and manufacturing industries. For more than 40 years, they’ve been the industry leaders in hard-wearing conveyor belt equipment – Hoverdale’s metals proved more reliable than anybody else’s and took the business from strength to strength.

From their Leicestershire base they supply materials across the UK and internationally to some of the world’s biggest companies, including Tata, Veolia and Kellogg’s.

As part of their staggered growth plan, Hoverdale hired two new salespeople. The costs involved with recruitment and training meant that they needed some finance to maintain a healthy day-to-day cash flow.

Having been declined for funding from the bank, Hoverdale founder and Director Mike Parker was directed to Funding Options through the Bank Referral Scheme. The scheme, introduced by the government-owned British Business Bank in 2016, requires banks to offer businesses alternative sources of finance when they can’t give them funding. Funding Options is one of the three designated finance platforms that the government chose to help those businesses find finance.

We found Hoverdale a £25,000 unsecured business loan that covered the recruitment costs and allowed them to continue their production and operations as usual.

Next on Hoverdale’s growth plan was to relocate to a bigger, better factory. They found a new factory that was perfect for them, and the move was planned. While the relocation was a great sign of the business’s health, they were hit with moving costs and the accompanying pause in production — they needed to fill that funding gap.

Through our partner Lending Crowd, we were able to get Hoverdale a £20,000 loan. This funding meant that Hoverdale’s move was successful and they didn’t have to worry about finding the money from elsewhere in the business to cover the relocation costs. They could continue to supply customers with their world-leading products.

Find out more about Hoverdale