Over 200 key figures from across the region gathered at the Centre for Life in Newcastle, for the launch of the second Access to Finance Guide produced by North East Access to Finance (NEA2F).
The 2011 Guide was introduced by Chairman, Hugh Morgan Williams OBE and guest speakers at the event were Sir Ian Wrigglesworth, Deputy Chairman of the Government's Regional Growth Fund and Rory Earley, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Capital for Enterprise Ltd.
Reflecting on what many have seen as a challenging year for business, Hugh Morgan Williams said "I cannot believe that it is almost a year since our first Access to Finance Guide was published in 2010. Since then, it has become an indispensable tool for fund managers, accountants and corporate finance lawyers as they seek to guide their clients through the complex web of finance initiatives both within the North East and beyond."
"SMEs (small and medium enterprises) have also benefited by having all the important information and contact details in a handy sized booklet that is duplicated on our website www.nea2f.co.uk
"Accessing finance has not got easier for SMEs during 2010. Whilst the Finance for Business funds are beginning to get to grips with financing growth businesses with equity solutions, there remains a problem for companies accessing traditional debt finance; both on demand overdraft and term loans from the high street banks."
"During the year, some of the main lenders assembled a £1.5 billion pound fund to help businesses with sales of more than £10 million pounds, but there remains a significant issue for the majority of companies beneath that threshold. Often the businesses are new, without a track record, or significant tangible assets to pledge against lending propositions from the banks that have become increasingly difficult to access for this sector."
"Nationally, the Enterprise Finance Guarantee has helped, but most businesses appear to find the security requirements onerous and the costs high. There remains a need for loan funds that target companies that the banks deem do not meet their credit criteria."
"Since the General election in May 2010 there have been a number of significant changes in the sources of money to help our stock of SMEs. Badly hit have been grant schemes that have practically disappeared from the Access to Finance guide. The main newcomer, of course, is the Regional Growth Fund which aims to help meet this Government's ambition to rebalance the economy. In addition this year, we have included a section on business support listing the main providers of help and assistance to SMEs."
Morgan Williams went on to say, "Here at NEA2F we are working on a number of schemes that we think will help business in the North East, and we will be announcing details of these throughout 2011. Of course, any changes will be reflected on our dynamic web site www.nea2f.co.uk, and we will be emailing our data base of regional contacts with regular updates."
Sir Ian Wrigglesworth, Deputy Chair of the Regional Growth fund, outlined the issues around access to finance for the region through the RGF and Rory Earley, CEO and Chief Investment Officer of Capital for Enterprise set the regional scene in the context of the national picture in terms and funding for business.
*The Regional Growth Fund, which only applies to England, will operate for over 3 years from 2011 to 2014. The RGF is a £1.4bn challenge Fund, which has two objectives:
(1) To encourage private sector enterprise by providing support for projects with significant potential for economic growth and create additional sustainable private sector employment; and
(2) To support in particular those areas and communities that are currently dependent on the public sector make the transition to sustainable private sector led growth and prosperity.
**Capital for Enterprise Limited (‘CfEL') is the Government's principal centre of knowledge, expertise and information on the design, implementation and management of finance measures to support Small and Medium Size enterprises (‘SMEs') across the UK.
· North East Access to Finance.pdf [4.8MB]
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