A UK engineering firm has secured an eight-figure funding package from HSBC UK.
Westley Group, which is one of Europe's largest privately-owned foundry and engineering groups, will use the cash to further invest in new CNC machinery to enable it to produce more products for its worldwide customer base.
The funding will also allow the company to grow into existing and emerging markets and create a number of new, skilled jobs in the West Midlands and West Yorkshire.
Westley Group employs around 280 people across four manufacturing sites, including Meighs and Westleys in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Black Country-based Spun Alloys and Walter Frank & Sons and Francis W. Birkett & Sons in Cleckheaton, West Yorkshire.
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James Salisbury, chief executive of Westley Group, said: "This agreement with HSBC UK allows us to expand our services by investing in new machinery and upgrading our facilities to grow the group’s offering to our customer base – it gets us even closer to our customer and their own finished product.
"The products we produce are subject to some of the world’s most-stringent testing criteria. They are also incredibly complicated from a metallurgical and geometrical perspective. Our customers rely more and more on our expertise to deliver a finished product including all testing and certification."
Westley Group specialises in heat, wear and corrosion-resistant alloys for a wide range of strategic equipment and safety critical applications. It services a range of industries including defence, marine, aerospace, oil and gas, architecture and general engineering. One of its key markets is the UK's and overseas' surface and sub-surface strategic naval defence market.
Last year, Westley Group was recognised as one of the UK's top 200 private companies with fastest-growing international sales in the 2021 Sunday Times HSBC International Track 200 list.
Keith Webb, deputy regional director and head of manufacturing for the Midlands at HSBC UK, said: "Westley Group has a clear commitment to manufacturing excellence and we look forward to further supporting the development of this well-established business that is a leader in its field, whilst helping to create new jobs within the UK and supporting its plans for business growth."
