Jaguar Land Rover supplier attracts new finance deal

A BLACK Country manufacturer has secured a new funding deal to enable it to supply Jaguar Land Rover.

Rowley Regis-based Cube Precision Engineering has secured £200,000 from Finance Birmingham which will enable it to finance production of new tooling for the bumper on the new Land Rover Discovery.
 
The funds will also create two new jobs within the toolmaking department, which is vital to the success of the project. Further growth is expected in the firm’s Computer Aided Design AD department as well as the Computer Numerical Control machine facility.
 
Cube, founded by Neil Clifton and Phillip Bannister in January 2009, specialises in the design and development of production tooling for clients across the UK, including automotive, aerospace and defence.
 
The Finance Birmingham deal comes just a month after the firm completed the acquisition of near neighbour, Dudley-based precision engineering and tool manufacturer GFP Tools.

Clifton and Bannister, joint managing directors of the business, have been focused on their growth plans for some time and the acquisition of GFP was singled out as the first in a series of similar deals which will see them realise their plans for sustained growth of the business over the next three years.

The backing provided by Finance Birmingham is part of its £24m Tooling Funding Programme, supported by the Regional Growth Fund. The programme is designed to help toolmakers and component manufacturers fund the design, development and manufacture of tooling or to expand their tooling capacity. Businesses can apply for funding between £50,000 to £1m.
 
Clifton said: “Securing tooling funding from Finance Birmingham has been the key driver to enabling organic growth in our business. The ease of access to the funding has meant that we were confident of taking on new work and employing new staff on the basis our cash flow throughout the payment terms of the project would be supported.
 
“Through this deal we can forge relationships with companies like Jaguar Land Rover and expand our portfolio to win further contracts.”
 
Steve Hetherington, Investment Director at Finance Birmingham, added: “Cube Precision is a prime example of the high calibre of manufacturing in the Midlands. The business is working on cutting edge projects with top national and international clients and after achieving hugely successful revenue of £4.5m in 2014, the potential for its continued growth is evident.
 
“Finance Birmingham’s Tooling Fund exists to help companies such as Cube Precision compete and expand into new markets.”