Insights & News

A little-known but growing trend has taken hold in the UK that delivers a way of connecting highly-driven, entrepreneurially minded individuals with smaller SMEs exploring their succession plans. Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition enables entrepreneurially minded individuals to acquire an established business where the owner is thinking about moving on and may not want to consider selling to trade or private equity due to a desire to protect and reward the teams who helped them on the journey.

We surveyed over 500 senior SME leaders to gain insights into the challenges they are facing, and the priorities that they have for their business over the next 12 months. Click below to view the research findings, and explore our range of funding solutions to support your funding needs.

We teamed up with Business Desk in the North West to discuss the opportunities and challenges SMEs are facing and what they can do to bolster business resilience at this time. Our very own Daniel Martin joined the discussion highlighting the importance of financial discipline and foresight when preparing for key transactions.

“Companies planning to move to employee ownership need to consider if they have the bandwidth, if their finance function is robust and if they have the right advisers working with them.” Steve Munt talks to Stephen Emerson of The Business Magazine about EOTs and how a long-term approach to funding is vital to success.

“Our smaller portfolios often mean we’re finding ways to say yes, rather than taking a ’computer says no’ approach.” David Cayzer talks to Rosemary Gallagher of The Scotsman about how we help SMEs address challenges and seize opportunities.

In an interview with Marc Harris from Business TV, Shawbrook’s Oliver Wilson, Managing Director, Head of Commercial Loans, discusses the funding possibilities - talking through a range of scenarios - and gives insight into what lenders look for from borrowing businesses.

For commercial finance brokers, we explore the challenges and benefits of building a loan book of your own.