Published: 13/03/24
Written by: Paul Varley
We hope you’ve had a great start to 2024…I’m still struggling to get my head around the fact Navigate is hurtling towards its 3rd birthday!!
From high inflation to a technical recession, from a cost of living crisis to the highest base rate since 2007, from low consumer confidence to attacks in the Red Sea causing disruption to supply chains. These challenges are just scratching the surface and if you stopped to think about it, you could write an encyclopedia of issues that impacted businesses throughout 2023.
However, what is abundantly clear is how resilient and entrepreneurial management teams have been. From our perspective, 12 months on we’ve seen the volume of funding enquiries increase by 66% year on year and lending opportunities for the 12 months exceed £105m . Businesses are not standing still waiting for something to happen, they are making it happen and our role is to secure the right funding partner who shares their vision. Despite the constant barrage of economic challenges, I’m delighted that our conversion rate remains one completion in every four introductions – which I believe is due to spending time at the front-end to get to know the business and its needs, however, I’d still love Navigate Commercial Finance to improve on this as we strive to secure funding for even more businesses.
Last 12 months lending highlights include securing;
A seven figure Invoice Finance facility to support a buy and build strategy for a compliance group.
A seven figure Recovery Loan Scheme loan to support an EOT for a high end joinery business.
A bespoke Cashflow Loan solution to support a growing HVAC contractor invest in new premises.
The common theme with these cases are exceptional management teams who have thought laterally about how their business can evolve and improve.
Looking further into 2024, its going to be another challenging and uncertain year, however we’re not seeing any slowdown in enquiries. If we were to convert our approved pipeline, we’d double our lending book – hopefully that’s not the kiss of death! The key message is lenders are hungry to deploy funds for sensible, well-structured lending requests, so if borrowing is part of yours or your clients’ strategy, let’s discuss those plans.
Finally, a thank you to the Navigate Commercial Finance team who genuinely care about what we do and for the positive impact they have in the marketplace. Also a thank you to all of you for your support in 2023 and we look forward to working with you throughout 2024.