£8.5m invoice finance and term loan for a wholesale distribution and fashion retail business
- Sector
- Wholesale distribution and fashion retail
- Facility
- £8.5m in total: £6m confidential invoice discounting plus a £2.5m term loan, followed by a £500k top-up loan
- Lender
- An independent specialist commercial finance lender for the mid-market
- Completed
- July 2026, top-up October 2026
The situation
A fast-growing UK wholesale distribution and fashion retail business had just broken through to positive EBITDA after a period of heavy investment. It needed significantly more working capital and liquidity to fund its next stage of growth: bigger stock commitments, new customers and longer selling seasons.
Its funding had been built up piece by piece: an invoice finance facility from 2020, a short-term secured revolving facility and several merchant cash advances. Each one solved a short-term problem. Together they were expensive, used the same assets several times over and capped how much stock the business could buy. With past losses still on the balance sheet, mainstream lenders were cautious.
What we did
- Took the deal to the whole market. We approached a range of lenders across high street and challenger banks, specialist ABL lenders and private credit funds. We ran indicative offers side by side, including a competing £6m ABL proposal, to create real competition and improve the terms.
- Told the turnaround story properly. We rebuilt the management information to show the move to positive EBITDA and the trading momentum behind it, and dealt directly with credit's questions about the balance sheet.
- Structured one consolidated package. Invoice discounting against receivables, a stock facility and a £2.5m term loan that added long-term liquidity alongside the revolving facility.
- Managed completion, then kept going. We coordinated the survey, the security documents and the redemption of the previous invoice finance and revolving lenders. Three months later we arranged a £500k top-up loan as growth continued.
The result
| Area | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Working capital | Invoice finance from 2020, plus a short-term revolving facility and merchant cash advances | £6m invoice discounting with one lender |
| Liquidity | Short-term, high-cost borrowing | £2.5m term loan, then a £500k top-up |
| Lenders | Four or more providers | One relationship |
| Growth headroom | Capped by overlapping security | Significant extra working capital that grows with sales |
Why it worked
The business had reached the point where its profitability could support proper funding, but its patchwork of lenders couldn't see it. Bringing receivables, stock and long-term liquidity together with one lender, and showing credit the move to positive EBITDA, unlocked far more working capital on a structure built for growth.