Hoo Peninsula businesses succeed in TIGER fund bids totalling nearly £250,000

Two Hoo Peninsula firms are among the first in Kent to successfully apply for a Tiger loan in Kent – receiving a combined total of nearly £250,000 to help grow their business.

TIGER – Thames Gateway Innovation, Growth and Enterprise – is a regional growth fund offering low-cost loans allowing businesses to invest in new products and services.

The scheme, is operated by Thames Gateway Kent Partnership with council partners Medway, Gravesham, Swale, Dartford, Thurrock and Kent County Council as well as backing from local businesses.

It launched in April 2013 with £20 million of interest free loans available to businesses in Medway, Dartford, Gravesham and Swale in Kent plus Thurrock in Essex.

Transnordic Ltd based at Vicarage Lane, Hoo has successfully applied for a £35,000 loan to spend on buying new equipment allowing it to increase productivity and lower costs.

The company has been trading since 1970, specialising in the design, development and servicing of components and systems for the hydraulics industry. Work will start in November.

Richard Sawyer, Managing Director at Transnordic, said: “We are extremely pleased to have succeeded with our TIGER loan application. This loan gives us the funds to invest in our business much more rapidly than would otherwise have been possible.”

The Food Machinery Company have even more ambitious plans with their £197,000 loan, which will be used to build a new factory to expand operations on their existing site at Fenn Corner, St Mary Hoo.

The business have more than 33 years of experience in supplying machinery for the industrial food processing and packaging industry throughout the UK and Ireland.

Cllr Jane Chitty, Medway Council’s Portfolio Holder for Strategic Development and Economic Growth, added: “I am delighted that both these highly successful firms have taken up this funding opportunity, which has the potential to boost Medway’s ongoing economic regeneration.

“Both Trans Nordic and the Food Machinery Company have had a fantastic track record here in Medway. With the TIGER loan they will now be able take their businesses to the next level.

“Medway businesses has been quick off the block to recognise the benefits of the TIGER loan scheme with a further 12 Medway firms through to the final application stage so this, hopefully, will be just the start.

“This fund offers a real opportunity for successful businesses looking to base themselves in Medway and the rest of Kent or looking for financial support to expand their operations.

“It has the potential to provide the kind of investment needed to create more skilled jobs; jobs that will play such a vital role in growing the local economy and its wider regeneration.

“Medway’s business community leads the way in driving employment and economic growth in Medway. These two companies are a fine example and this initiative quite rightly gives them the support in expanding their business.”

To find out more about the scheme email: business.support@medway.gov.uk or visit http://www.medway.gov.uk/TIGER