Thai funding deal for Abbeycrest

JEWELLERY group Abbeycrest has reached a deal with its Thai bankers over capital facilities just weeks after revealing it had breached covenants with its senior lender.

The wholly owned subsidiary of the Leeds-based company, Abbeycrest Thailand, has agreed an increase of £2.1m to its seasonal working capital facilities with Siam Commercial Bank.

The extended facilities are made up of an increase of £1.9m to cover invoice financing with trade clients and an additional £200,000 to its letters of guarantee for gold purchases.

Last month, Abbeycrest said it was suffering from rising gold prices which had hit customer demand in both its Essentials and Brands divisions and was in discussions with Burdale Financial over breached profit covenants as well as Siam Commercial.

The deal with Siam Commercial announced this morning takes its extended facilities to £5.8m which will cover Abbeycrest’s peak working capital requirements between now and December.

There was no update on the discussions with Burdale Financial although the company has previously said it confident of a “successful conclusion”.