PMD Business Finance is pleased to announce its support in successfully sourcing a seven figure asset-based lending facility to assist with on-going growth for Laila’s Fine Foods.
From humble beginnings in Laila Remtulla’s kitchen 30 years ago, to a 96,000 sq. ft purpose-built factory in Bispham, Lancashire, Laila’s family business has grown to immense heights. Laila’s Fine Foods is a long-standing manufacturer of hand prepared ready meals based around small batch production. Even with over 350 employees working on more than 260 product ranges, they have managed to keep true the meaning of high-quality home cooking.
The business has seen strong growth over the years from customer loyalty, including a range of leading supermarkets but recently were not getting the financial support that they needed to progress from their existing bankers. They turned to PMD Business Finance for support, who took to the time to fully understand the challenges that the business was facing and after carefully considering their needs, initially sourced a six figure asset refinancing facility in order to support working capital. Callum Bull, Business Development Director, commented:
‘Laila’s Fine Foods has invested heavily over the years to ensure they remain at the forefront of the sector and have the ability to meet the high demands of their client base. However, this also meant that the company had a large amount of equity tied up in a wide range of unencumbered equipment.
‘An asset refinancing facility was therefore the ideal solution, as it allowed funds to be raised against this equipment helping to protect the company’s cash flow, whilst providing the lender with adequate security.’
The impact of the Coronavirus outbreak
Due to the unprecedented outbreak of COVID-19, the business was rapidly trying to ramp up production in order to serve a spike in demand for their products. But this required the funds to cope with the heightened production levels. As such, Callum Bull introduced Mark Millhouse, Head of Invoice Finance at PMD Business Finance, who assessed their existing facility and identified a more appropriate alternative; to switch their Invoice Finance providers, saving costs and increasing facility size. Mark Millhouse commented:
‘The Invoice Finance Facility Laila’s Fine Foods had in place was restrictive in the amount of funds it generated and had far too onerous levels of administration as a condition. PMD Business Finance quickly identified a lender with sector experience and an old-fashioned approach to underwriting, putting the people at the heart of the facility.
‘Despite the COVID-19 crisis, a survey was able to be done remotely and e-documents signed resulting in no additional time lost. The deal completed within two weeks from first meeting and Laila’s Fine Foods now has the required headroom in the facility to allow them to grow.’
Whilst times have been difficult for Laila’s Fine Foods, they have come out the other side positive, eager to see the company grow. Zera Dawson-Gerrard, Technical & Commercial Director at Laila’s Fine Foods, said:
‘We are delighted with the support we received from PMD Business Finance. We have had a number of challenges over the past 18 months, with Brexit and now COVID-19, both Callum and Mark worked tirelessly to fully understand our business and secure the financing that we needed to support our growth ambitions. We are able to remain close to our customers during these uncertain times and are able to keep up the quality of service that we are used to delivering.’
