Gravity Drinks secures £4.5m finance package to support export growth

Provided by HSBC, the package combines a receivables finance facility of £3m and a trade finance facility of £1.5m – the latter guaranteed by government export credit agency UK Export Finance (UKEF).

The Cheltenham-based drinks firm has already been able to use the financing to make Christmas shipments, including 35,000 units of the ‘Whisky Tour of the World’ advent calendar it produces for Costco.

Gravity has also used the finance to launch a number of other new products and white label goods for international customers in Asia. The business planned to invest in new equipment and create new roles at its head office.

Capturing the audience

Hitesh Patel, export finance manager for London at UKEF, said: “Immersed in local markets, Gravity Drinks has taken the time to really understand local seasonal celebrations globally and tailored drinks solutions to capture their audience.​

“The overwhelming majority of UKEF’s deals support smaller businesses like Gravity, ensuring that entrepreneurs from all over the country can benefit from international trade.”​

Gravity Drinks already exports to markets including the USA, Canada, Scandinavia, Taiwan, Japan, and New Zealand, selling its premium spirit and liqueur brands to large overseas retailers.

Seasonal demand for its drinks meant that the business required additional working capital to ramp up production in the run-up to Christmas, New Year and other seasonal celebrations. 

Demand home and abroad

Director Jim Denoon added: “With continued demand from our customers in the UK and overseas having the right partners in place to help finance our growth is crucial to our business. UK Export Finance have been supportive of us from the early days of Gravity.”​

UKEF helped to secure HSBC financing with a guarantee offered through its General Export Facility product. Through this system, the UKEF has helped UK exporters to access more than £576m in working capital loans in the last financial year.

HSBC UK relationship manager Campbell Chisholm concluded: “We’re excited to see Gravity Drinks taking its fantastic products to new markets. It is a privilege to also support the production of new products for UK customers and I am delighted that the company’s growth is supporting the local economy through the creation of new jobs.”​

Meanwhile, last month saw food ingredients company MicroLub has complete a successful £3.5m funding round​​ to support the next stage of development for its fat and oil replacement technology.