Praetura supported Vacuum Pouch Company with a £1.45m facility, comprising of a property term loan and confidential invoice discounting to refinance their existing bank lender and provide greater headroom in working capital for growth.

The Challenge

The Vacuum Pouch Company Limited (“VPC”) is a family-owned business established in 1998 and based in Bury. The business manufactures and supplies a wide variety of vacuum pouches for use in the UK food industry. Customers include restaurants, schools, airports, food suppliers and a global hotel chain. Products range from sealer pouches used for preserving food and sous vide bags for poaching meat to stand up bags for sweets packaging.

The businesses needed to refinance an existing lender, manage fluctuations in demand from the pandemic and ready their business for revitalised growth.

The Solution

The Praetura Commercial Finance (PCF) team spent time with the VPC management to better understand the market outlook and their strong growth opportunity.

There is a good defensible position with the new biodegradable product being patent protected. With the shift to a more environmentally conscious customer base, VPC are well positioned with an established brand and means of production.

Confidential Invoice Discounting and a Property Term Loan helped refinance the existing lender and afford greater headroom in working capital going forward. 

The Transformation

Despite the pandemic’s effect on VPC, they’re business needed to adapt quickly to the rising demand and mitigate the burden from arrangements with previous traditional debtors. It was essential for VPC to find a more adaptable solution so they could take advantage of the opportunity.

Ciaron Doherty, General Manager from The Vacuum Pouch Company, said: “The service Praetura provided has been excellent , Stuart and Nicola came to visit me once they knew we were in need to switch from our old finance company. From our initial meeting to the switchover they have been fantastic, they have provided a finance facility that meets our needs with potential for further growth, they have also provide a facility for our export services that other companies couldn’t . Stuart and Nicola kept us up to date throughout the switchover and everything ran smoothly. Their wider team now looks after our account and is always available should we need any help with matters, the account has been up and running for 3 months now and I can highly recommend Praetura.”

Stuart Bates, Commercial Director of Praetura Commercial Finance, added: “The Vacuum Pouch Company team came to Praetura Commercial Finance with challenges surrounding their existing high-street bank lender. Based in Bury, the well-established manufacturing business needed greater financial flexibility for future growth plans. Our team were delighted to support their ambitions.”