New Lancashire fund launched to help businesses rebound

Lancashire County Council has launched the £2.25m Rosebud Rebound Fund to help businesses in the county to resume growth plans following the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Managed by GC Business Finance, loans will be available from between £10k – £300k for businesses in Lancashire across all sectors.

The new fund sits as part of the £11.25m Rosebud Fund, which has been providing financial support to the region’s SMEs for more than 30 years. In the last 12 months alone, the fund has provided more than £2m to 16 businesses across Lancashire, creating more than 100 jobs as a result.

Transactions include a £300k loan provided to YUDU, a software company specialising in digital publishing and crisis communications, to accelerate the growth of its flagship crisis management product Sentinel. The firm also recently provided a £160k loan to Boe House, a provider of gift hampers and boxes, to fulfil growing demand from European and US customers.

With the government-backed loan schemes drawing to a close, businesses still need quick access to funding to stabilise and return to growth. As a result, the Rosebud Rebound Fund has streamlined its applications and approvals process to speed up the drawdown of capital on its loans up to £50k. For larger loans, the Fund is taking a more flexible approach to deal structures, tailoring bespoke repayment profiles to fit the needs of the individual businesses and their cash flow.

Matt Robinson, fund manager at Rosebud, said: “Short term access to cash has been a key consideration for SMEs across the UK, and lenders have stepped up to come up with innovative solutions to get funding to where it is needed quickly.

“Having worked with Lancashire businesses for more than 30 years through our flagship Rosebud Fund, we are immersed in the local community, and understand that Lancastrians are resilient and robust and they require funding to match their ambitions. This has enabled us to tailor the Rosebud Rebound Fund directly to Lancashire businesses and provide an agile and flexible service to support those businesses looking to grow in spite of the economic conditions.

“We remain very much open for business, and we look forward to working closely with entrepreneurs to help the local economy rebound.”

County Councillor Michael Green, Cabinet Member for Economic Development, Environment and Planning, Lancashire County Council, said: “As we have seen, there have been a multitude of challenges facing Lancashire companies as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.  One of these has been accessing the growth capital necessary to put them back on track for their scale-up trajectory, along with supporting new and emerging companies and industries.

“The pandemic has highlighted the further need for both the public and private sector to come together.  Lancashire County Council, along with a host of our partners, continue to champion and drive not only our economic development recovery, but also invest in growth opportunities.  It is therefore our collective responsibility to support these companies and assist them to reach their potential, despite ongoing uncertainty.

“The launch of the Rosebud Rebound Fund is a critical part of rebuilding and reenergising the local economy and demonstrates the flexibility of our fund managers.  By adapting our terms, applications and approvals process, we are now able to provide an even quicker, easier and more fluid process for companies to access the funding they need to return to growth.”