Throughout the Coronavirus crisis, the UK has seen a huge shift in what was once normal for everyday life. Livelihoods have been turned upside down. Businesses forced to change overnight. The country was facing the most severe downturn of our generation.
Yet throughout it all, PMD has continued to drive forward in the hope that through hard work and determination, we will see a positive upturn for our business, our employees and our clients. We remain optimistic that normality will resume and will do what we can to support our clients and suppliers.
We’ve adapted and worked hard in sectors where our skills are required. This includes supporting businesses the food processing / delivery, internet cable laying, commercials cleaning and transportation and distribution sectors. Helping to provide finance for equipment, plant and machinery for these key sectors has enabled them to continue to prosper and grow throughout the pandemic.
We are in this together
The message ‘we are in this together’ has been repeated on numerous occasions across the country and is ever apparent at PMD Business Finance. Right from the start, the Board has ensured open communication, remaining transparent with the company plans and changes as the virus progressed.
We have furloughed five out of 38 members of staff, whilst topping up their salaries to 100%. Of those five people, we felt that it was important to rotate our furloughing scheme on a three-week cycle so no one lost touch whilst off work or lost their motivation. This has proven successful. Our people have remained motivated, flexible and up to date with market trends in order to support our clients when they need us the most.
Diversifying with ease
Our team has shown great versatility and willingness to be adaptable during these unprecedented times. Whilst the Board encouraged employees to diversify their job roles to cope with the drastic change in the market, the team kept upbeat, focused and driven to ensure our clients were at the top of their priority.
We have looked to upskill and challenge our people, and with great success. Sam Kaberry and Dan Moremon were upskilled to offer CBILS loans and successfully put together applications for these. Four of our Business Support team, Chloe Parker, Sara Morris, Jill Shaw & Jade Wall also formed a project team. This was to deal with the volume and effectively handle payment holiday requests. Because of their determination and willingness to adapt, they were able to keep communication open and clear between lenders and clients, all within our current offering and without any additional costs. Peter Dobson, Managing Director, comments:
“It’s important to all of us at PMD that we keep relationships strong, especially in hard times, making every attempt to help safeguard our clients’ businesses for the future in any way we can.”
We are confident that our support for businesses will help them not only survive but continue to grow and diversify. Our recent support of Curd & Cure, a leading artisan food and drink distributor for the South-East, demonstrates this. The company were looking for a way to fulfil a huge surge in orders. We worked quickly with one of our vendor partners, CoolKit, to find a solution. We did this by financing two refrigerated vans that enabled them to increase their turnover by 60%.
It’s the people at PMD that keep the business going. We’re grateful to be working as a team to power through these hard times.
Looking for similar support during these uncertain times? PMD Business Finance’s dedicated team is here to help. Please call the team on 0161 633 2548 or email info@pmdbusinessfinance.co.uk today. You can also see what we’re up to over on LinkedIn.