UK Export Finance supports Warwick manufacturer iRob through pandemic

By Nicky Godding

29 January 2021

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Warwickshire-based iRob, which specialises in robotics and automation for large scale exporters in the automotive industry, has secured a working capital facility from Barclays after receiving help from UK Export Finance (UKEF).

The company turned to UKEF after securing a high-value contract with Jaguar Land Rover to deliver new automated facilities for a range of new models.

UKEF’s local export finance manager, Jane Cooper, worked with Barclays to put a working capital facility in place that would allow the company to buy materials and pay staff while retaining cash in the business. We were also able to help extend the payment deadline after COVID-19 disruptions led to factory shutdowns and inevitable changes to the project timelines.

Giles Oberheim, Managing Director of iRob, says the impact of the support has been transformational: "This support has been the difference in being able to deliver this project and not. We wouldn’t have been able to do this alone without the support of both UKEF and Barclays. We fully intend to carry on expanding as a business and see UKEF as a key part of our future.

Jane Cooper, Export Finance Manager for Birmingham, Coventry and Warwickshire, Leicestershire, said: "UKEF’s mission is to ensure no viable UK export fails for lack of finance from the private sector. That mission remains the same in all economic climates. I urge every UK exporter who is concerned about their ability to continue trading overseas to look at how UKEF can support them through the pandemic."

By Nicky Godding

Nicky Godding is editor of The Business Magazine. Before her journalism career, she worked mainly in public relations moving into writing when she was invited to launch Retail Watch, a publication covering retail and real estate across Europe.

After some years of constant travelling, she tucked away her passport and concentrated on business writing, co-founding a successful regional business magazine. She has interviewed some of the UK’s most successful entrepreneurs who have built multi-million-pound businesses and reported on many science and technology firsts.

She reports on the region’s thriving business economy from start-ups, family businesses and multi-million-pound corporations, to the professionals that support their growth and the institutions that educate the next generation of business leaders.