Annual Review 2020: Helping the Mid-Sized Thrive

2020 is a year that will be forever etched in all our minds long after we have finished talking about PPE, lockdowns, R values, zoom meetings, protein spikes and social distancing. Every single person in the UK has been impacted in some way by the covid pandemic and its effects may be felt for many years to come.

Like many businesses, we have had to be flexible, decisive and nimble to make sure we delivered the best outcomes for our clients, staff and other stakeholders in very challenging circumstances.

Looking back on the year and recognising that we are not yet through the pandemic, although the rollout of a national vaccination programme is encouraging, we are proud of what we have achieved; from supporting midsized businesses with record levels of funding (£289m versus last year’s previous record of £201m) switching rapidly to a completely remote way of working and accelerating enhancements to our service model have all been major accomplishments.

You can read more about these elsewhere within this review, however, we would particularly like to thank our borrowers and their advisers for their continued support and of course our amazing staff for their incredible and ongoing commitment.

Looking ahead into 2021 there will be further funding requirements for many businesses as they address deferred debts such as tax or rental payments and invest to make the most of the post-pandemic environment. We have substantial amounts of lending capital to deploy and look forward to supporting many more mid-sized businesses with their specific needs over the next 12 months.