Northern fund powers ahead

By Paul Spencer, director at Haworths Chartered Accountants.

A new investment fund created to help drive the growth of the Northern Powerhouse is generating the development plans of a Blackpool business.

The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund’s £250,000 loan to Omega Product Services is its first deal in the county since it was launched earlier this year with support from the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership.

Omega, which supplies the electrical wholesale market, was set up six years ago and employs nine members of staff.

Sales have grown rapidly, and are expected to hit £2.7m this year.

The loan will allow the LED lighting specialist to take on new sales staff and diversify its product range to offer its customers a more extensive line of products.

The £400m fund was launched as a potential new driver of growth, working to help businesses across the region realise their potential as part of the powerhouse project.

The fund, delivered by British Business Bank, offers three different options designed to plug gaps in the provision of commercially available finance, ranging from £25,000 loans to £2m equity investments.

The investment packages are open to a wide range of sectors, from early stage innovative businesses through to manufacturing and creative and digital industries.

NPIF has been set up by the British Business Bank in conjunction with the Lancashire Enterprise Partnership and nine other LEPs across the North.

Financed by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), the European Investment Bank (EIB) and the UK government, NPIF aims to provide small and medium businesses with increased flexibility in the types of funding available. It says it will work alongside the LEPs and Growth Hubs, as well as local accountants, fund managers and banks, to provide a mix of debt and equity capital to SMEs at all stages in their development.