Full steam ahead! RateSetter backs Flying Scotsman restorer
RATESETTER has helped fuel a locomotive repair specialist best known for overhauling the famous Flying Scotsman.
Investors on the peer-to-peer platform have helped fund a £420,000 loan to restorer Riley and Son to help restructure existing debt and improve cashflow.
The company – one of only three in the UK able to carry out locomotive repair work on the scale of The Flying Scotsman – which is 70ft long, 13ft high and weighs around 10 tonnes – had been given 18 months’ notice to move premises.
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The firm needed funds to finance the cost of moving to a larger factory site and to invest in staff and more modern machinery but the cost of servicing an existing finance facility was restricting cash flow.
Instead, the company turned to RateSetter Business Finance.
“By the nature of our work, we need people who have some of the traditional skills that are in short supply in the UK,” Greg McGill, director of Riley and Son, said.
“The funding has given us the confidence to hire ten apprentices who we will be able to teach in our ways and methods. The extra funds have also enabled us to make alterations and improvements to our workshops.
“We are in a growth business and we are not short of orders. In fact, we may be looking to expand by acquiring an additional piece of land that is adjacent to our site. Unlike cars, steam locomotives don’t depreciate and we own four of our own.”
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