West Yorkshire-based Cavalier Bathrooms has entered the kitchen market following receipt of £15.2m in funding facilities from Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance, which supported the acquisition of brassware company Tre Mercati.

Family-owned Cavalier Bathrooms, backed by industrial investment group HLD Group, has been creating high-quality bathrooms solutions for more than 100 years. With a number of sector-leading brands to its name, including Aquadart, Elation, April Products and Niagara, the business was looking to grow and diversify its offering with the acquisition of a business that serviced the kitchen sector.

Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance created £15.2m in flexible funding facilities to allow investment in the existing Cavalier product range and infrastructure, together with support for the purchase of Oldham-based Tre Mercati, a supplier of bathroom and kitchen brassware. Another family-owned business, Tre Mercati and Cavalier Bathrooms have shared values of bringing functional products to market alongside best-in-class customer service.

Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance provides a full suite of asset-based lending options including invoice financing, working capital and inventory financing. Currently, the commercial finance arm of the listed bank has in excess £500m of facilities agreed to support growing businesses across the UK.

David Myles, Special Operations Director of the HLD Group of Companies (HLD), said: “Despite the pandemic and difficulties in the sector, Cavalier Bathrooms has had a strong year, achieving its original forecast despite a number of months without trade. We’ve had time to invest in our business processes and technologies and being able to welcome Tre Mercati as part of the business will only strengthen our offering further.

“The support of Dave Green and the team at Secure Trust Bank cannot be understated. We’ve had a relationship with them for several years, having used their funding across other group companies. Once again, they really got to know the business, understood our growth ambitions and were able to provide a flexible facility to help us achieve them. We would highly recommend them as partners.”

Dave Green, Regional Sales Director at Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance, said: “We have developed a strong relationship with the HLD team and it’s fantastic to be able to support another of their portfolio companies. Both Cavalier and Tre Mercati have knowledgeable and passionate management teams and combining the businesses will no doubt lead to even greater success.”

Lore Group has announced that its second London property – One Hundred Shoreditch – will open its doors in Autumn 2021.

The 258-bedroom hotel will have six restaurants and bars including a seafood restaurant & wine bar, a destination cocktail bar, and a roof terrace plus five meeting and event spaces.

The overhaul of the property’s interiors is led by Lore Group Creative Director Jacu Strauss and his team: “The redesign reflects how Shoreditch has evolved during the last decade with the interiors mirroring the new grown-up character of the neighbourhood. In the guest rooms emphasis is placed on calm and comfort, while the restaurant and bar spaces retain the fun and energy for which this part of London is so well known.”

Strauss adds: “In the case of One Hundred Shoreditch we wanted to work with elements of the previous design, and in doing so embrace a sustainable approach by keeping some features and enhancing them to elevate the design and create a new guest experience.”

One Hundred Shoreditch will offer the largest choice of restaurants and bars within one hotel in the area, including a restaurant and wine bar specialising in locally and sustainably sourced seafood. The property will feature an expanded rooftop bar and terrace, offering panoramic views over East London and towards the City.

The hotel will also be home to five flexible meetings and events spaces suitable for everything from private dining and receptions to meetings and weddings. The largest space, surrounded by floor to ceiling glass, offers views of the London city skyline.

“The opening of our new hotel in Shoreditch reflects the growth and evolution that have taken place over the last 15 years in the area,” says David Taylor, Lore Group’s Chief Operating Officer. “We will offer something for everyone across our 6 restaurants and bars and 258 tranquil bedrooms, all representing consistently good value.”

Victoria Plum has secured a £7m flexible facility from Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance to support further growth, following record sales by the company.

The specialist online bathroom retailer, owned by private equity fund Endless, reported £103m in sales in its 20th anniversary year, up 46 per cent on the previous 12 months.

EBITDA reached £4.5m, an increase of 115 per cent on the previous year, and the workforce grew by 49, taking total employee numbers to 398 in February 2021.

Over the course of last year, Victoria Plum launched a bathroom design and installation service and also took the decision to prioritise flexible working. This has seen the company’s offices in Doncaster and Hessle transformed into co-working hubs where people can work and meet as required.

Victoria Plum was well placed to benefit from the speeding up of the structural shift towards online retail throughout 2020. Chief Financial Officer, Martin Hargreaves, who led the financing transaction, believes Victoria Plum will continue to grow at speed.

“We are very pleased to partner with Secure Trust Bank to agree this new growth funding package,” he said. “Our market fundamentals are strong, we have the necessary scalable infrastructure in place and a clearly differentiated design and installation service that is experiencing rapidly increasing demand.

“In addition, we continue to utilise the constant stream of valuable data and consumer insight to adapt our product offering to meet our customers’ needs. All of these factors combined mean we are ideally positioned to make Victoria Plum the most differentiated, most trusted and most respected bathroom provider.”

The £7m facility provided by Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance, comprised of a £4m inventory facility and a £3m cash flow loan, will support Victoria Plum with continued expansion building on the momentum it has seen in the past year.

Secure Trust Bank has supported Endless in funding a number of its portfolio companies including provider of operated road sweepers, GoPlant Fleet Services, multi-channel garden furniture retailer, Moda Furnishings, and wholesaler of pet food and pet products, KennelPak.

In 2020, Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance provided more than £70m in funding to private equity-backed businesses, across six financial sponsors, and worked closely with each of them to ensure they could maintain and drive the maximum value from their investments. 

Commenting on the facility, Endless Partner, Matthew Jubb, said: “Since we acquired Victoria Plum, we’ve been executing an ambitious growth strategy, and we’re proud to see the progress that has been made in the past year.

“We’re confident that we will continue to grow at speed, but it was essential we found the right partner that could support us in achieving our ambitions for the business.

“Having worked with Secure Trust Bank on many previous occasions we knew they would be the ideal partner, as they take the time to understand our growth ambitions and create a bespoke flexible facility that works for us.”

John Gribbon, Regional Managing Director at Secure Trust Bank Commercial Finance, said: “Victoria Plum is a fantastic Yorkshire business with an impressive management team that is committed to customer service.

“Reflecting on the retailer’s expansion in the past 12 months, it is clear to see the real benefits since Endless came on board, and with a clear scalable infrastructure, there’s no doubt it will continue on this trajectory.

“We’re pleased to be building on our relationship with Endless and look forward to continue working with them to support Victoria Plum and other portfolio companies moving forward.”