Secured Mail, the fastest-growing UK postal operator, has expanded rapidly both through acquisition and organically.
Working capital was previously provided by a clearing bank, yet the management team identified that greater headroom would be required to see the business through its next ambitious phase of development.
Centric Commercial Finance moved swiftly to replace the previous invoice discounting line with a £10.5 million revolving working capital facility. This provided increased funding to give the management team and private equity investors, Next Wave Partners, the ability to focus on revenue growth through new customer acquisition and continue to build its home shopping logistics solutions. Turnover in 2013 is now expected to grow to £80 million.
Secured Mail was founded in 2006 and was recently ranked second on the Sunday Times Fast Track, the list of the UK’s Top 100 fastest-growing private companies. Secured Mail’s head office is in Warrington, with facilities in Dartford and Crick. The company employs 150 staff and clients include Amazon, Centrica and Southern Water.
Michael Owen, Finance Director at Secured Mail commented: ”We wanted to find a lender that could move quickly with minimal business interruption. On that basis, Centric Commercial Finance stood out immediately.
“We were impressed that we could meet Chief Executive to Chief Executive and really get to know our financial partners right from the start, sharing our growth plans and ambitions. We felt confident that Centric understood our business model, could execute on the transaction and importantly were able to support our future growth. One of the attractions of working with Centric was that they delivered the deal that they promised at the start. They are easy to deal with and very accessible. This has been a very effective move for us as we go forward to capitalise on the rapidly expanding home shopping market.”
Tim Hawkins, Commercial Director at Centric Commercial Finance said: “We look forward to supporting Secured Mail’s incredible rate of growth and future acquisition strategy. The company is going from strength to strength, investing in people, technology and infrastructure as one of the largest postal providers in the country. We match our clients’ ambitions with our own appetite for growth. We are pleased to have announced our best quarter on record, with 15 deals completed in Q1.”
