UK Export Finance Joins as Supporting Association for the Northern Ireland Manufacturing & Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition
We are excited to announce that UK Export Finance (UKEF), the UK’s official export credit agency, is coming on board as a supporting association for the Northern Ireland Manufacturing & Supply Chain Conference & Exhibition, taking place on September 12th, 2024, at the Titanic Exhibition Centre in Belfast.
UKEF plays a vital role in the UK economy. UK Export Finance (UKEF) is the UK’s export credit agency and a ministerial government department, strategically and operationally aligned with the Department for Business and Trade.
Its mission is to advance prosperity by ensuring no viable UK export fails for lack of finance or insurance, doing that sustainably and at no net cost to the taxpayer
UKEF provides loans, guarantees and insurance to help UK exporters access international trading opportunities. It charges risk-based premiums for its support to cover its costs.
It helps UK companies:
- win export contracts by providing attractive financing terms to their buyers
- fulfil contracts by supporting working capital and trade finance
- get paid by insuring against buyer default
WHY IS UKEF UNIQUE?
UKEF is the world’s longest-standing export credit agency, founded in 1919 as the Export Credits Guarantee Department to kickstart British trade following the First World War.
UKEF operates at no net cost to the taxpayer. It has covered the cost of every claim made against it since 1991.
UKEF’S IMPACT 2023–24
We’re proud of our successes in the past year, which include:
- £8.8 billion in loans, guarantees and insurance policies in 2023/24 to help UK firms break into international markets and grow.
- Contributing £3.3 billion to the UK economy during what has been a challenging time for world markets.
- Supporting up to 41,000 jobs across the country including in key sectors like advanced manufacturing, life sciences, automotive and floating offshore wind.
- Supporting 650 UK exporters, helping businesses of all sizes across the country grasp rich opportunities available in new and emerging markets.
- Of these, UKEF’s work supported 336 SMEs last financial year, aided by partnerships with the five largest UK banks as well as a range of non-bank lenders.
- Eighty-eight percent of businesses whom we directly supported with a product were SMEs. Eighty percent of those were based outside of London, demonstrating how our work is helping to deliver growth opportunities across the country.
- With a capacity of £60 billion, increased by £10 billion with HM Treasury’s consent last year, UKEF can provide certainty of support for more British exporters than ever.
- In 2023 to 2024, our General Export Facility (GEF) product helped businesses to access around £576 million in working capital.
UKEF’s Business Plan 2024-29
We have launched our new five-year business plan covering the period 2024 to 2029, alongside a new Sustainability Strategy that succeeds our previous Climate Change Strategy.
These will include:
- Building on our successes from 2023/24, we seek to go further in our support for UK exporters as part of UKEF’s Business Plan.
- UKEF is committed to helping businesses from under-represented communities, in particular businesses owned by women and people of colour.
- UKEF plays a huge role in bringing private finance in to developing markets – and we are going to take this further by securing £10 billion in financing for exports to low- and middle-income countries by 2029.
- Also, our new Business Plan commits to £10 billion clean growth finance in the next five years to accelerate the growth of the UK’s green export sector.
- Under this Business Plan, we are setting out to support 1,000 SMEs per year before 2029.
- We will increase outreach to new markets and sectors, expand our presence in international markets to stimulate growth and create more exporting routes for UK businesses.
SUPPORT FOR RENEWABLE ENERGY
- Renewables account for around a third of global energy capacity and UKEF is already putting UK businesses at the heart of this energy transition.
- UKEF was one of the first export credit agencies to commit to reaching net zero by 2050, and we remain strongly committed to using our finances to facilitate the net zero transition.
- As stated above, UKEF’s Business Plan has set a milestone of providing £10 billion of clean growth finance to accelerate the UK’s green export sector by 2029.
Northern Ireland Success Stories:
- Wrightbus: An Export Development Guarantee in 2023 unlocked £50 million in financing for Northern Ireland-based bus-maker Wrightbus. This saw UKEF guarantee 80 per cent of a loan from Barclays Bank, helping turbocharge exports of clean, green electric and hydrogen-powered buses to new markets in Germany and North America as well as existing clients in Singapore and Hong Kong.
- EOS IT Holdings: A deal which allowed Northern Ireland business EOS IT Holdings to secure up to $100 million in credit, fuelling its expansion and the creation of up to 100 jobs.
- Circular Group: Northern Ireland-based Circular Group, which designs, manufactures, delivers and installs systems for the sand, aggregates and construction and demolition waste recycling sectors, secured a £4 million contract with UKEF’s help in 2022
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/uk-export-finance
