Industry giants extend Forgemasters loan

A trio of industrial behemoths have extended their multi-million pound finance deal with Sheffield Forgemasters.

The consortium which includes BAE Systems, Babcock and Rolls Royce agreed to underwrite bank loans to the company for at least the next 12 months, according to Sky News.

The FTSE100 company, which supplies the nuclear Trident programme, received guarantees about its financial future last year from Submarine Enterprise Partners, of which BAE Systems, Babcock and Rolls Royce are corporate shareholders.

They guaranteed £30m worth of loans from US bank Wells Fargo to insulate themselves from the steel crisis which hit other big manufacturers including Tata Steel.

Since then, Forgemasters has gone on to receive further funding from the Sheffield City Region LEP, which will contribute to a £6.5m investment in machinery.

A BAE spokeswoman said on Wednesday: “We work closely with more than 7,000 companies in our UK supply chain, including Sheffield Forgemasters, to develop and manufacture advanced defence and security products for our customers.

“The details of our arrangements with suppliers are confidential.”