Gainsborough: Funding helps town company create more jobs and expand

Hooton Engineering Ltd in Gainsborough are the first recipients of the Greater Lincolnshire Business Capital Growth Fund, enabling them to purchase new property and machinery whilst creating five new jobs.
Hooton Engineering LtdHooton Engineering Ltd
Hooton Engineering Ltd

The business, which started in 1955, went through the Growth Accelerator programme in 2013 and committed to controlled growth through expansion over the next three years.

With their objectives of achieving growth through investment and expansion in their five year plan the business approached the Greater Lincolnshire Business Capital Growth Fund to assist them with their capital aims.

Richard Marshall, Managing Director at Hooton Engineering Ltd, said: “We applied to the Greater Lincolnshire Business Capital Growth scheme as we wanted to grow our market share and achieve our five year plan.

“The profits that could be generated from the expansion of our offices, workshops and new machinery through the grant scheme would then allow for even greater growth in the business.”

Hooton Engineering applied to the scheme in autumn 2014 for funding to purchase a new fabrication unit, expand their present offices and to purchase new powered bending rollers with a total project cost of £105,035.

The application was reviewed by the Investment Appraisal Panel.

The Panel, consisting of credible individuals from the investment and business community appraised the application to determine the proposal’s commercial soundness and the impact of the investment.

Hooton Engineering were successful and received a grant of £20,671, 19.68 per cent of the total expected cost of the project.

Simon Beardsley, Chief Executive of the Lincs Chamber of Commerce and member of the panel, said: “Hooton Engineering demonstrated the spirit of what the programme sets out to do which is investing in capital projects to create jobs and generate growth in Lincolnshire that might not have happened without the intervention of the fund. Engineering businesses play a vital role in Lincolnshire’s overall economy and the panel felt the project demonstrated sound value for money, sustainability and job creation.”

Hooton Engineering succeeded in purchasing a new industrial unit which sits within their secure compound.

For more information on the Greater Lincolnshire Business Capital Growth Fund, visit www.lincs-chamber.co.uk/2m-regional-growth-fund.