Member Article

Blackburn’s Woodscape carves out £950k HSBC finance package

A North West street furniture designer has secured a £950k finance package to support its continued expansion.

Blackburn-based Woodscape Group Ltd has forecast strong growth for 2014 after some major contract wins.

The company will provide street furniture to Tesco, as part of their ongoing national store improvement programme, and for the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which is due to fully open this spring.

Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park

Woodscape has switched its full business banking requirements to HSBC and secured a finance package which includes Invoice Finance and other working capital facilities from HSBC’s Lancashire Commercial Centre. The invoice finance element of the package enables the company to generate working capital from its order book to facilitate continued growth.

The firm expects to increase turnover by £1.5 million to £6.5 million this year.

Woodscape managing director Richard Nelson said: “We have experienced strong growth and forecast more of the same this year, so we needed a finance package that meant that growth wouldn’t put too much strain on our working capital.

“We were impressed with HSBC’s approach and the facility that Richard (senior international commercial manager Richard Smith) and his team put forward. Plus, we have an international element to our business, so HSBC fits in nicely with that.”

Woodscape specialises in the design and manufacture of exterior wooden street furniture, such as benches, flooring, litter bins and shelters.

It was founded by current managing director Richard Nelson’s parents in 1980 and now employs approximately 80 staff, working with leading architects, landscape designers and public and private sector companies to provide bespoke and innovative street furniture.

Richard added: “Architects now view street furniture as integral to the overall design of their projects, it’s not just about the building itself. Our products help soften a building or environment, creating attractive and aesthetically pleasing areas for people to work or relax in, and we have seen strong orders over the past 18 months and expect growing levels of business going forward.”

HSBC Lancashire area commercial director Jason Gledhill added: “I’m pleased to welcome Woodscape as an HSBC customer. The company has won some major contracts over the past 18 months, so is clearly impressing people with its ability to make interesting and appealing street furniture. We have been impressed by the management team and its strategy, and are delighted to support its growth.”

In addition to its main street furniture business, the wider Woodscape Group also includes SlateScape, which imports and distributes premium slate products, and truKitchen, which focuses on designing and implementing high-end kitchens across Cheshire and the North West.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Graham Vincent .