Cranfield-based Yorks Sweeper Hire has secured a £500k invoice factoring facility from Skipton Business Finance, paving the way for significant growth after a major competitor exited the market. The new facility includes Bad Debt Protection and a 120-day recourse period and represents a £150k uplift on the company’s previous arrangement with a high street bank.

Founded in 2010, Yorks Sweeper Hire provides road sweeping, jet washing, gully sucking and specialist cleaning services across nine counties including Bedfordshire, Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire. Clients include Starbucks, McDonald’s and David Lloyd Gyms, with much of its work centred on the construction sector.

Samuel York, managing director of Yorks Sweeper Hire, said: “We operate in an industry where it’s common to have debts that age more than others, and the facility and business we’d been working with before Skipton had very little flexibility. The cost of Skipton’s invoice factoring facility; the increased credit limit and recourse period; and the inclusion of Bad Debt Protection, which really is vital for a business like ours; all added up to making the decision to switch the easiest business decision I think I’ve ever made.”

He added that the timing of the switch aligned with a major market opportunity: “A big competitor of ours fell away recently, creating a growth opportunity for us that Skipton’s facility has really helped us to capitalise on.”

Robin Edlington, associate sales director at Skipton Business Finance, said: “You sometimes meet a business at just the right time and with Samuel and Yorks Sweeper Hire that’s certainly been the case. They had a growth opportunity, an unflexible factoring partner and a clear need for Bad Debt Protection. To be able to step in and provide a bigger and more competitively priced facility and help them as they strive towards growth has been extremely gratifying.”