The Financial Times reports (subscription required) that although the new year has hardly started, manufacturers are already expecting 2015 to be tough.
The FT reports on falling confidence in the sector, partly because of diminshed expectations of the UK economy, with a significant downturn from the 70 per cent of manufacturers surveyed at the beginning of 2014, who said they were looking forward to an improved British economy, according to the EEF/Aldermore annual survey of manufacturing executives.
Yet there are some excellent companies in the manufacturing sector, some of whom have found finance for growth via Money&Co. One of these companies is Mecmesin, now six months into a five-year loan of £1 million, funded via our platform. The deal was described by the FT at the time as a ”landmark” event – the largest non-property-backed cordfunded loan ever.
Robert Oakley, chairman of Mecmesin, said as the FT reported at the time that he was “frustrated” by the banks. “They want to charge lots of fees. It has been difficult. We have great pedigree and blue-chip customers and the banks want personal guarantees and security. That was the final straw. There is not enough respect for firms like us.”
It’s quite possible that the future may not be so dark for manufacturing, if firms look beyond the banks for sources of funds. As we have consistently reported, survey after survey shows the small and medoum-sized enterprises are unaware of alterntive sources of funds, such as crwodfunding. Last autumn’s Aviva survey shows the problems that we must address.
*** The last few days of our existing loan auctions are here. Check out our carefully vetted borrowers and the yields on offer (over 10 and 11 per cent). The risks of lending are explained here.