We spoke with Jon Herbert who is the Head of Acquisitions Finance at Lloyds Banking Group about the current financing environment. He shares his views from the banking perspective
We spoke with Stephen Welton who is the Chief Executive of the Business Growth Fund about the role of Business Growth Fund and the current financing environment.
The engine room of the UK economy is gearing up to pump again with more than half of our surveyed CEOs and FDs expecting it to become easier to finance their business activities in the next 12 months. But with the funding taps mostly being turned on for larger, blue-chip companies, many are facing another year of frustration and/or creative growth strategies. Grant Thornton’s latest survey maps the financing needs and wants of the UK mid-market.
Finance directors aren’t normally the face of the company but they are playing an increasingly critical role in its success, as our recent What makes an outstanding FD? report, researched in conjunction with Directorbank, shows. Here, we interview three business leaders – including Directorbank’s MD John Pearce (below) about the growing importance of the FD .
Grant Thornton has been working with the Directorbank Group to answer this very question. We asked nearly 350 directors, chairmen, chief executives and executive directors to nominate the best finance directors (FD) they’ve worked with. We then interviewed a final 25 on what it takes to get to the top - and asked what advice they have for their peers in the current economy…