Your support is incredibly important to us, partly because your savings deposits allow us to lend out to households and small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), supporting British businesses during what has been a difficult year. 

By continuing to choose to bank with us, you have allowed Paragon to continue to support UK SMEs and help steer businesses towards economic recovery.  

During the last financial year, which ran up until 30 September 2020, we lent £288million to SME businesses alone. As well as providing funding packages across a variety of projects, we also approved Coronavirus Business Interruption Loans and Bounce Back Loans to help businesses navigate the pandemic and secure their long-term future.  

Here are some examples of the projects your deposits have helped us support over the course of 2020. 

Plant hire business, FinniGroup Ltd  

Your savings deposits enabled us to provide funding to three Leicestershire-based sisters, to help them follow in the footsteps of their father by establishing their plant hire business, FinniGroup Ltd.  

We already had a long-standing relationship with their father, Paul Finnegan, owner of Leicester-based plant hire firm, Joinpoint Ltd. After years of supporting Paul to finance dump trucks, we recently have been able to support daughters, Hollie, Jade and Ruby in establishing their own businesses. 

Paragon has enabled the initial investment and payment on the equipment for FinniGroup, providing a funding package of over £250,000 for two Bell 30E Dump Trucks, to begin building a fleet. 

Croft House Farm in the Lake District 

We were able to support a Buttermere-based farmer and contractor by providing more than £70,000 in funding, which enabled the expansion of the business across the Lake District.  

Croft House Farm provides fencing, groundworks, baling, mowing and all other aspects of grassland work requiring large machinery for many farms in the area.   

The loan allowed the farm to acquire a new Case Puma tractor to enable it to further develop its agricultural contracting business, as well as its livestock farming activities, consisting of over 800 lambing ewes and 65 suckler cows. 

The farm, tenanted by Edward Beard, works closely with local farmers as well as the National Trust and the Rivers Trust, supporting stewardship schemes across the Lake District, helping with natural flood management and keeping footpaths useable for the general public. 

Uxbridge-based Jet Clean Maintenance Services Ltd  

We provided a £120,000 Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan (CBILS) to Uxbridge-based plumbing and drainage firm, Jet Clean Maintenance Services Ltd, helping them survive when demand for services reduced during the pandemic.  

Jet Clean provide services to industrial and domestic clients and they approached Paragon for support when the first wave of coronavirus hit and business levels reduced. A cash flow injection was needed to ensure that payments could still be made to suppliers and that Jet Clean could continue to pay its staff. 

Hampshire based adhesive specialists, AdCo UK  

We were able to support Hampshire-based AdCo UK tackle coronavirus and maintain local jobs, providing a £60,000 funding package to help the company shift production to alcohol hand gel. 

AdCo UK Ltd is one of the UK’s leading specialist adhesive manufacturers. As coronavirus cases spread, the company quickly moved to begin production of ‘HydraCure alcohol hand gel’ to help with the fight against coronavirus and serve customers in need, including local authorities and care homes. The demand for the hand gel was so strong that investment in new mixing equipment was needed. 

The funding also allowed the company to maintain its 14-strong workforce without the need to furlough any employees. The package was used by the company to purchase raw materials to manufacture the hand gel and the company is now producing 5,000 bottles per day. 

Supporting a Lancashire-based family farm with a new combine harvester  

We provided funding to a Lancashire-based family farm to allow them to purchase a new combine harvester.  

The farm, belonging to brothers Thomas and Ian Stafford and their father Thomas Stafford Snr, has been operating for over 63 years and focuses on contracting, combining and livestock. The most recent funding from Paragon’s SME Finance team has enabled the purchase of a New Holland CX9.90 STS Tracked Combine Harvester.  

The new combine harvester is a much larger machine than the family previously operated and will enable the business to cover more ground at a quicker speed. This increased efficiency means that more land can be worked.