Shropshire manufacturer rolls into new markets with £60m funding package
A manufacturer and supplier of aluminium flat-rolled products has secured a £60 million Asset-based Lending (ABL) facility to help diversify its product range and fuel its future growth plans.
One of Shropshire’s biggest employers, Bridgnorth Aluminium, produces metal strips for lithography printing, and will use the funding from HSBC UK to diversify into different markets, moving away from being solely recognised as a lithography specialist to a more multidisciplinary approach.
The firm, which has roots tracing back to 1933, will start to manufacture and supply new aluminium flat-rolled products to the drinks industry, to produce cans, and to the stockist market. By moving into these high-growth markets, the company hopes to increase its annual turnover by 40 per cent over the next five years.
Mark Richards, finance manager at Bridgnorth Aluminium, said: “As a business with big ambitions we need make strategic future investments. Over the last 90 years, we have held a well-earned reputation for excellence in the lithography industry which we want to extend into the drinks and retail markets. It’s an incredibly important and exciting milestone for us and we are happy to have HSBC UK as a funding partner to help us on our new journey.”
Mark Lewis, relationship director at HSBC UK, added: “Bridgnorth has all the hard-working characteristics and heritage you’d expect from a long-established Midlands manufacturer, as well as the ability to look to the future through the lens of innovation. This is a pivotal move in the company’s history and is set to lay the foundations for a new, exciting chapter in Bridgnorth Aluminium’s story.”
The £60 million, fully integrated ABL facility provides Bridgnorth with a significant increase in liquidity, allowing the company to invest into its future growth plans in a controlled and structured way.
Sam Owen, business development director at HSBC UK, added: “HSBC UK has provided an innovative and flexible facility that provides both working capital funding and a revolving facility for Bridgnorth’s strategic capex plans, by leveraging assets both in the UK and overseas. An uncommitted accordion provides additional scope to extend the facility in future.”
Keith Webb, deputy regional director at HSBC UK, added: “The Midlands has long been known as the heart of industrial manufacturing, so it is great to see one of the region’s biggest employers with such a long history evolve and embrace new opportunities. The business is intent on diversifying its core product offering to support its growth ambitions. We wish them the best of luck for the future.”
Bridgnorth Aluminium employs over 425 people at its site on Stourbridge Road, Bridgnorth. As well as its work in the lithography industry, the company supplies readily formable aluminium to automotive manufacturers, packaging companies and transformer windings across the UK and Europe.
