In brief

Europe’s largest digital cinematography and motion picture equipment hire company, Procam Take 2, has secured a £7m refinance facility from Arbuthnot Commercial Asset Based Lending to generate ongoing working capital for new projects, in addition to further CapEx investment in equipment to fulfil demand as the business grows.

The complete facility comprised of an invoice discounting line, a plant and machinery revolver and a CBILS term loan.

Arbuthnot Commercial ABL was selected following a competitive process.

The demise of Greensill Capital may lead to tighter regulation and greater transparency requirements for supply chain finance (SCF, also known as reverse factoring) transactions, Fitch Ratings agency reported.

Greensill was involved in developing SCF outside of traditional banking channels and its collapse could trigger a liquidity crisis for companies relying on its funding. This could pressure accounting standard-setters to accelerate their review of SCF-related disclosure, the agency said.

UK-based global provider of asset finance software and services, White Clarke Group, has appointed Stuart Taylor to its senior leadership team, the company said.

Taylor will take responsibility for WCG’s sales, customer relationship management and business growth in the UK and Ireland. His most recent appointment, however, was with QV Systems (formerly Quotevine) where he spent just over a year as vice-president of EMEA sales.

The Dutch-based global provider of asset finance has announced the appointment of Yke Hoefsmit as chief risk officer (CRO) and member of the executive board of DLL.

She brings almost 20 years of international experience with Rabobank, where she has held relationship management and risk positions of increasing scope and management responsibility.

The British Business Bank’s Small Business Finance Markets 2020/21 report highlighted a surge in applications for external financial support, including government and local grants, among SMEs – with almost half (45%) of all SMEs surveyed said they applied for external financial support in 2020, compared to 13% in 2019.

At the same time, gross bank lending (excluding overdrafts) to smaller businesses rose to £104bn in 2020, 82% higher than in 2019, driven by government schemes.

United Trust Bank (UTB) has reported a 31% increase in new lending to £1.3bn in 2020, helping to drive its operating profit to £44.1m, a 35% increase on its 2019 performance, the bank reported.

Total assets reached £1.9bn, an increase of 33%. UTB wrote £1.3bn of new loans during the year, which was 31% more than in 2019, and the loan book exceeded £1.6bn for the first time, of which £118m was Government supported lending under the CBILS scheme.

Hitachi Capital European Vendor Solutions is to open a direct operation in Finland.

The new operation in Finland will be a branch of the company’s Dutch subsidiary, Hitachi Capital European Vendor Solutions BV and will open by 31 March. The company is the vendor finance division of Hitachi Capital (UK) PLC.

Grenke AG, the German SME leasing company, has issued an interim status report about the ongoing special audit by auditors Mazars, requested by the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin).

According to the report, no findings have been made that cast doubt on the legal validity and economic substance of the lease contracts with outstanding receivables of around €5.6bn. Also, allegation of money laundering have not been confirmed and there is no systematic need for goodwill impairments on acquired franchises, it said.

Time Finance said Ian Smith, its CEO for over five years, is leaving the company to be replaced by Ed Rimmer on an interim basis with immediate effect.

Rimmer has re-joined Time Finance having previously been the chief operating officer for two years from June 2018 to April 2020 when it was branded under its previous name 1pm. He initially joined the Group in 2017 as managing director of their newly established commercial finance division.

Chris Stalley, who spent just over a year as the first CEO of the joint venture between the French bank BNP Paribas and 3stepIT, an IT lifecycle management company based in Helsinki, has been appointed as the head of sales at Renaissance Asset Finance.

In a statement, Renaissance AF said Stalley will lead the sales division as sales director in a bid to drive Renaissance Asset Finance’s business development strategy across the UK.