Steel Firm Strengthens Growth Plans with Funding Deal

10th December 2012

A start-up steel business in Bolton is targeting multi-million pound growth after receiving a £700,000 finance package from Yorkshire Bank.

Radcliffe-based Steel Dynamics began trading in September providing stainless steel, duplex and nickel alloys to international customers in the nuclear, oil and gas, and petrochemical sectors.

The business is majority-owned by metals entrepreneur Ian Griffiths who sold his £35million turnover Metals UK business to AM Castle and Co in 2007 in a multi-million pound deal.

Yorkshire Bank’s Business & Private Banking Centre in Blackburn has provided Steel Dynamics with an invoice finance facility to assist with cashflow and working capital requirements as it invests in stock, processing equipment and industry-leading information technology.

Ian Griffiths, CEO of Steel Dynamics, expects the business to grow organically to become a £10-£12million turnover business in the next three to five years.

Ian said: “We have established ourselves as a metals service centre, which means we can provide large quantities of specialist steel at short notice. We’re aiming to become a significant player in the speciality steel industry. We have made a very positive start and are already supplying large international businesses.

“We’re operating in a capital intensive industry and the funding from Yorkshire Bank will allow us to grow our business the way we want to.

Garry Birchall, business development manager at Yorkshire Bank in Blackburn, said: “Ian has a superb track record in the high value metals industry and a reputation for creating, rescuing and growing successful businesses. Ian and his team have a very clear strategy for achieving growth with Steel Dynamics and we are pleased to be supporting the company’s aspirations.”

Steel Dynamics, which has 10 employees, operates from a 40,000 sq ft warehousing facility on the Bradley Fold Trading Estate, Radcliffe, complete with laser, water jet and high definition plasma cutting technology.

Ian is also CEO of Manchester-based Eaves Machining Ltd, which he acquired in 2010 in a deal backed by Yorkshire Bank, returning the struggling business to profit. He is also a director of Bolton-based Axis Sheet Metal, which he acquired a share of in 2012.

Robert Pattenden, Ian’s former co-director at Metals UK, and Daniel McKinley are shareholders in Steel Dynamics.