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NPIF II funding will remove barriers to growth for lab furniture firm

Press release 07 November 2024

A Hull company which produces laboratory furniture for leading universities and research institutes has secured a £100,000 loan from NPIF II – Mercia Debt Finance, which is managed by Mercia Debt as part of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIF II).

A group of people standing next to lab machine

The funding will enable Lab Systems Furniture to expand its capacity by moving into new premises three times the size of its existing unit and create two new jobs. The move is part of the company’s growth plans which also include investment in new machinery.

Lab Systems Furniture manufactures and installs high specification fitted furniture for pharma, biotech and medical research laboratories including Reckitt Benckiser, Indivior, GlaxoSmithKline and the Roslin Institute in Edinburgh which produced the first cloned mammal, Dolly the Sheep. It also serves clients in the education sector such as Cambridge, Loughborough and Hull Universities.

The business’s origins date back to the 1890s when it was founded in Hartlepool as a manufacturer of school furniture. Since diversifying into laboratories in the 1970s, it has built up a strong reputation in the sector and after moving to Hull in 1995, it has gone from strength to strength. Lab Systems now employs 15 staff. The funding will cover the cost of moving and the fit-out of its new 12,000 sq ft premises on Hull’s Sutton Fields industrial estate.

Geoff Lound, Managing Director, said:

Laboratory furniture is a specialist area. This year we have seen an upsurge in interest, driven in part by the increased number of science parks, and we have a strong pipeline of enquiries. However, the lack of workshop and warehouse space limits the work we can currently take on. The funding will enable us to move into bigger premises and remove the barriers to growth.

Rebecca Pickering of Mercia added:

Lab Furniture has strong client relationships and a reputation for quality but its current premises are holding it back. In some cases, manufacturing has had to be halted until the warehouse is cleared. The new premises will provide greater flexibility, enable it to compete in ‘off the shelf’ sales by manufacturing popular products in advance, and to expand its range with complementary lines such as classroom furniture.

Lizzy Upton, Senior Manager at British Business Bank, said:

Funding from NPIF II is paramount to Northern businesses like Lab Systems Furniture, supporting them as they expand their teams and premises. It is great to see businesses across Hull and East Yorkshire using NPIF II funding to grow and we’re pleased to see the Fund playing a part in supporting this specialist sector.

The £660m Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II (NPIFII) covers the entire North of England and provides loans from £25k to £2m and equity investment up to £5m to help a range of small and medium sized businesses to start up, scale up or stay ahead.

The purpose of the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II is to drive sustainable economic growth by supporting innovation and creating local opportunity for new and growing businesses across the North of England. The Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II will increase the supply and diversity of early-stage finance for the North’s smaller businesses, providing funds to firms that might otherwise not receive investment and help to break down barriers in access to finance.

ENDS

Further Information

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Notes to editors

About Mercia Ventures

Mercia Ventures is a proactive venture capital investor focused on being the first-choice partner for growth. Mercia Ventures makes equity investments of up to £10million across all sectors, with specialisms in Software, Consumer, Healthcare and Deep Tech.

Mercia Ventures is a trading name of investment funds managed by Mercia Fund Management Limited and Mercia Regional Ventures Limited, part of the Mercia Asset Management PLC Group, and sits alongside the Group’s wider private equity, debt and proprietary balance sheet operations. The Group has 11 offices in the UK, and Mercia Ventures’ national footprint and 48 strong investment team draws on their experiences as founders, PhD scientists, software engineers, corporate financiers and management consultants to help our partner companies successfully achieve their ambitions. As at 30 September 2023, Mercia Asset Management PLC has c.£1.5billion of assets under management. Mercia Asset Management PLC is quoted on AIM with the epic "MERC".

The Group raises its own Venture Capital Trusts (VCTs) and Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) Funds, and details about open offers can be found through Mercia’s website.

Mercia Asset Management PLC is quoted on AIM with the epic "MERC" and includes the following wholly owned subsidiaries -

  • Mercia Fund Management Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 524856
  • Mercia Regional Ventures Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 183363
  • Mercia Business Loans Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 443560
  • Frontier Development Capital Limited is authorised and regulated by the FCA under firm reference number 829697

www.mercia.co.uk

About the Northern Powerhouse Investment Fund II

  • Operated by the British Business Bank, NPIF II provides a mix of debt and equity funding. NPIF II will offer a range of commercial finance options with smaller loans from £25k to £100k, debt finance from £100k to £2m and equity investment up to £5 million. It works alongside the Combined Authorities, Local Enterprise Partnerships (LEPs), and Growth Hubs, as well as local intermediaries such as accountants, fund managers and banks, to support the North’s smaller businesses at all stages of their development. 
  • The funds in which the NPIF II invests are open to businesses with material operations, or planning to open material operations, in: Greater Manchester, Lancashire, Cheshire & Warrington, Cumbria, Liverpool City Region, Leeds City Region, South Yorkshire Combined Mayoral Authority, York & North Yorkshire, Humber and East Yorkshire, Northumberland, County Durham, Tyne & Wear
  • Supported by Nations and Regions Investments Limited, a subsidiary of British Business Bank plc, the Bank is a development bank wholly owned by HM Government. Neither Nations and Regions Investments Limited nor British Business Bank plc are authorised or regulated by the Prudential Regulation Authority (PRA) or the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).

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