Lloyds Banking Group is expecting to lend £1.5billion to South West firms in 2020 in a bid to help start-ups and up-scalers right through to established multinationals in a year which it said could remain “challenging”.
The new year pledge follows the £1.5billion the bank pumped into the region’s businesses in 2019 and forms part of a £18billion national stimulus package for 2020.
It lent Totnes cider brewer Hunt’s Cider a £50,000 hire purchase facility lin 2019. The finance has helped the eighth-generation family business to triple production to meet increased demand. Its products are stocked by household names including The Co-operative Group, Wetherspoons and The National Trust.
The new tranche of funding is available to firms across the South West and will support entrepreneurs looking to start a new business, micro-businesses seeking to scale-up and small businesses considering trading internationally for the first time, the bank said.
It will also support established mid-sized businesses and large, multinational corporations seeking further growth.
This new lending commitment for 2020 follows on from the Group’s pledge in 2019, also for £18 billion lent nationally and £1.5 billion available to the region’s firms.
Despite the continuing “challenging economic environment”, the Lloyds Banking Group is not lessening its backing for British businesses and is on hand to support their growth aspirations, it stressed.
Jeremy Hayward, Lloyds Banking Group ambassador for the South West, said: “This decade is set to be an exciting time for the South West, with a bourgeoning digital and technology sector, and our very own spaceport in the pipeline.
“It’s clear that there’ll be plenty of opportunities for the region’s firms to take advantage of in the year ahead. We anticipate lending up to £1.5billion to South West businesses this year to support their ambitions.”
During 2019, as well as supporting British businesses’ growth aspirations, the bank assisted its customers in becoming more sustainable.
Lloyds is on course to meet its ambitions to support existing and new customers with energy efficiency improvements for a further one million square feet of commercial real estate as well as delivering renewable energy projects capable of powering 3.5million homes by 2020.
To support customers on their sustainability journey, more than 450 relationship managers have undertaken intensive training on climate change and sustainability-related risks and opportunities in collaboration with the Cambridge Institute for Sustainable Leadership.
The bank stressed it is putting sustainability at the heart of its relationship teams’ support for businesses.
António Horta Osório, chief executive of Lloyds Banking Group said: “In 2020, our commitment to supporting businesses is undiminished and we will lend up to £18billion to businesses across the UK.
“We know that during uncertain times our customers look to us not just for financial support but also for expert guidance to navigate the challenges they may face. Whatever the future brings, we will continue to support UK businesses as part of our commitment to help Britain prosper.”
