Case study

Glasscoat International’s exports shine after working with UK Export Finance

Dudley-based manufacturer accesses the working capital it needed to fulfil two lucrative export contracts.

About the transaction: Glasscoat International
Region West Midlands
Sector Manufacturing: glass coating machinery
Export destination Austria, Germany
UKEF support Bond support scheme

In 2015 Glasscoat won two new export contracts. Both buyers requested advance payment guarantees from Glasscoat’s bank, HSBC, in return for which HSBC would require cash collateral as security. Providing the deposit for guarantees to both clients would have restricted working capital and so Glasscoat approached UK Export Finance (UKEF) for support.

Under our bond support scheme, we provided a guarantee to the bank to cover 80% of the bond. This enabled the bank to release £370,000 cash back to Glasscoat to use as vital working capital. This did not cost the company any more, as we take a share of the bank fees rather than charging the exporter for this type of support.

Ian Cripps, founder and managing director of Glasscoat International, said:

Without UKEF’s support, we could not have fulfilled both contracts, and we would have had to turn away a customer. Working with UKEF meant that we were able to sell a machine in Germany and increase our revenue by £710,000.

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Published 17 March 2017