Charlton Brook secures Finance Yorkshire loan

Charlton Brook supplies landscaping services to big names in the housebuilding sector – including Persimmon, Kier and Strata.

The directors are using the £56,000 loan to boost their working capital.

Andrew Morton said: “Like many companies, we were affected by the recession and wanted to inject some cashflow into the business so our accountant Peter Hollis of Hollis Chartered Accountants suggested we look at what Finance Yorkshire could offer.

“The funding will help us to purchase vehicles and increase staff levels.

“As our business is seasonal and workload can vary considerably, we will look to take on staff through agencies, but this is still good news as it means we are nevertheless creating new roles for local people.

“The Finance Yorkshire money, combined with indications that the market is picking up, means we now have more confidence to do so, as well as further increase our plant stock production.

“It is extremely encouraging that our turnover is steadily increasing, resulting in further job creation, improved cash-flow and profitability.

“It is also encouraging to see our domestic customer base increasing, as well as demand for our new landscape design services.”

Finance Yorkshire Investment Manager Ian Howson said: “Charlton Brook are not alone – many of the region’s businesses are still feeling the impact of the recession so this funding will be a welcome boost, giving them working capital to get them back up to pre-recession trading capacity levels.”

EU-backed Finance Yorkshire provides seedcorn, loan and equity linked investments, ranging from £15,000 to £2m to help SMEs.