Artemis Agrees Leumi ABL Facility

A Plymouth-based manufacturer is set for expansion after securing financial backing from Leumi ABL.

Artemis Optical, which makes high-precision thin film coatings for the defence, civil aerospace and medical analytics sectors, agreed a structured funding facility with Leumi ABL, an asset-based lending subsidiary of Bank Leumi (UK), including invoice discounting and a plant and machinery loan.

The facility will fund both UK and international export debts alongside a term loan against the value of its plant in South Devon. The capital replaced incumbent bank and asset finance arrangements, which generation "significant" additional working capital.

"In the current economic climate conventional lenders, high street banks and leasing companies are very risk averse and tend to only be prepared to advance around 50 per cent loan to value, particularly on specialist equipment such as ours," said Artemis chairman Nick Hurst.

"This approach tends to hold back fast growing businesses like ours, so we were looking at other funders and were particularly impressed with the knowledge and approach of the team at Leumi."

Jonathan Hughes, regional sales director at Leumi ABL, added: "We were very impressed with the drive of Nick and the excellent team at Artemis and recognised the growth potential of a business with globally acclaimed products."

Source: Artemis agrees Leumi ABL facility | South West Deals News (insidermedia.com)