£750k boost to support successful Telford toymaker's growth

The funding helped the company meet strong seasonal demand for products such as the hugely successful Soccer Bot.

Golden Bear, which employs 56 staff in Telford and 10 in Hong Kong, experiences exceptionally high levels of seasonal demand for its products, with 40 per cent of its sales forecast for the final quarter of 2023.

Traditionally, Golden Bear Products has made licenced products for children’s television programmes, which remains a core priority and strength.

However, as part of a strategic initiative to grow the business, both in the UK and across the world, it has diversified into developing its own intellectual property (IP) for toys and games.

The financial package from Lloyds Bank will help fund the investment in product development and consumer research required to bring its new products to market.

The £19 million turnover business hopes the investment will help it drive 10 per cent growth next year, and has more ambitious plans for the future.

Lloyds Bank will also support Golden Bear Products with foreign currency transactions, helping the business to mitigate the commercial risk of trading in foreign currency.

This will support the business in its international expansion plans, where it hopes it could see exponential growth of 20-30 per cent for its own IP products.

Barry Hughes, managing director of Golden Bear Products, said: “The nature of our products mean we can see huge spikes in demand, making it crucial that we have the financial headroom to respond to these trends.

"For example, Soccer Bot was featured in a viral TikTok video, which got over 4.3million views on the platform and saw it rank number one game on both Amazon and Argos. Likewise, we’ve partnered with YouTubers The Sidemen and Hot House games as UK distributors for their new adult game, Hit Send, driving high demand for Christmas.

"We’ve worked with Lloyds Bank since 2011, when we were chosen to produce the plush mascot for the London 2012 Summer Olympics. They supported us through this period of sudden high demand, and have been by our side since, helping us both day-to-day and during seasonal peaks. We have a strong relationship with the team and are confident they understand our products and market.”

Charlotte Turton, relationship director at Lloyds Bank, said: “Golden Bear Products is developing an exciting portfolio of games – but these are traditionally a later purchase at Christmas and can be dramatically impacted by social media trends over the season, meaning the business needs to have the right funding facilities in place to manage this. We’re proud to help them capitalise on this opportunity and prosper.

“The business has also seen its retailers become more cautious amidst a challenging economic climate, switching from buying in bulk from overseas, to ordering smaller quantities more often from the UK. To fulfil these orders, we’ve helped Golden Bear Products become more agile in its cashflow management, which will set it in good stead to drive growth into the future.”