--- title: "Business funding for manufacturers — working capital for UK manufacturing companies" description: "How short-term business finance fits UK manufacturers — funding a raw-materials run, fulfilling a large order, or bridging long lead times while customer invoices catch up. The company borrows, never the director: no personal guarantee. To apply, head to credicorp.co.uk." canonical: "https://creditcorp.co.uk/industries/manufacturing/" locale: "en-GB" updated: "2026-06-21" --- # Working capital for UK manufacturers > A plain-English guide to how short-term working capital fits the manufacturing sector — raw materials, large orders, machinery and the long lead times between outlay and payment. This is the Creditcorp brand front door at **creditcorp.co.uk** — it never takes applications, prices loans or accepts payments. The operating lender is **Credicorp Limited** at [credicorp.co.uk](https://credicorp.co.uk/); company/legal detail lives at [creditcorpgroup.co.uk](https://creditcorpgroup.co.uk/). **Canonical URL:** **Last updated:** 21 June 2026 --- ## Who can borrow Credicorp Limited lends **only to bodies corporate** — UK limited companies (Ltd), LLPs and PLCs. The borrower is always the **company**, never the director, an individual or a sole trader. There is no personal guarantee, no charge over a home and no personal credit check on a director. This is exempt business lending, not consumer credit. See [Lending and regulation](https://creditcorpgroup.co.uk/lending-and-regulation/). ## Why manufacturing eats cash The working-capital gap in manufacturing is wider than in almost any other sector. Four things drive it: - **Raw materials are paid for first.** Steel, aluminium, polymer, timber, board, castings and components mostly have to be bought — and often paid for — before a single unit ships. When commodity prices move or a supplier tightens terms, that outlay jumps at the start of the cycle, when nothing has yet been sold. - **Long lead times stretch the cycle.** A part can sit as work-in-progress for weeks: cut, formed, machined, assembled, finished, tested, packed. Every day in progress is cash already spent and not yet recovered. - **Large orders are feast and famine.** A single contract three or four times your usual size means buying three or four times the materials, often before the customer pays a penny. Growth in manufacturing costs cash before it earns it. - **Customers pay slowly.** Manufacturers sell business-to-business, and downstream buyers — retailers, distributors, OEMs, main contractors — routinely pay on 60 or 90-day terms. The money laid out at the start of the cycle comes back at the very end. None of this signals a weak business — it is simply how manufacturing cash flow works, and it bites hardest precisely when a profitable manufacturer is *growing*. ## The kinds of finance that fit Three plain-English products, used three different ways on the factory floor. Detail and the live terms are on the lender — no rates are quoted here. - **A fixed sum for a known materials run** — a one-off [Business Bridging Loan](https://creditcorp.co.uk/products/): a single agreed amount for this much steel against that confirmed order, repaid over a short fixed term as the order is delivered and paid. - **A line you draw against as runs land** — a revolving [Credicorp Flex](https://creditcorp.co.uk/products/) facility: a company limit you draw from as each materials run lands, repay as finished goods are paid for, then draw again — interest only on what is actually drawn. - **Spreading a single supplier bill** — [Credicorp Slice](https://creditcorp.co.uk/products/): the supplier is paid in full today, your company repays over a few weeks for a flat fee. This is short-term **working capital**, not asset finance. It is meant for materials, wages, tooling consumables and the wait to be paid — not for buying a major capital machine outright, which usually calls for dedicated hire purchase or leasing elsewhere. ## The company borrows — never the director This matters more in manufacturing than almost anywhere: an owner of a plant or workshop often already has the unit, the machines and sometimes the family home pledged against equipment leases or an overdraft. Credicorp draws the line cleanly — the agreement is between Credicorp Limited and your **company**, so there is: - **No personal guarantee** — a slow-paying customer or a stalled order does not put your home or savings on the line. - **No charge over a home** — nothing of yours personally is pledged as security for the company's borrowing. - **No personal credit check on a director** — the lender assesses the company, not your own credit file. - **A clean separation** — the limited company you set up to carry the risk is the borrower, exactly as it should be. This is exempt business lending to bodies corporate, not consumer credit. Full detail: [creditcorpgroup.co.uk/lending-and-regulation](https://creditcorpgroup.co.uk/lending-and-regulation/). ## A worked example *A made-up but realistic situation — not a real customer.* - **The business.** A precision sheet-metal fabricator, a UK limited company with eleven staff, turning over a little under £1m a year supplying enclosures to two larger equipment makers. Solid order book, healthy margins, but every customer pays on sixty-day terms. - **The squeeze.** One customer offers a standing order more than double the firm's usual monthly volume. Taking it on means buying a large run of steel and powder-coat consumables up front, plus an extra fortnight of agency labour — weeks before the first invoice on the new work even falls due. - **The fit.** Because materials buying comes in waves as the standing order ramps up, a revolving facility suits better than a single lump sum: the company draws as each steel run lands and repays as finished enclosures are invoiced and settled. - **The point.** The borrower is the company, so the director's home and personal credit file stay out of it entirely. The exact amount, term and cost are set by the lender — no figures are quoted on this site. To see real terms and apply, head to [credicorp.co.uk](https://credicorp.co.uk/). ## Manufacturing funding — common questions **Can a UK manufacturing company borrow without a personal guarantee?** Yes. Credicorp lends to the company — a UK limited company, LLP or PLC — not the director who signs. No personal guarantee, no charge over a home, no personal credit check on a director. **We have a large confirmed order but need to buy raw materials first. What fits?** That is the classic manufacturing gap. A short-term Business Bridging Loan gives a fixed sum for a known cost and date; Credicorp Flex lets you draw against a limit as a run lands. Detail on credicorp.co.uk. **Does Credicorp lend against machinery, or is this asset finance?** No. This is unsecured short-term working capital for the business — not hire purchase, leasing or asset finance against a specific machine. For buying a major capital machine outright you would pair it with dedicated asset finance elsewhere. **Our customers pay on 60 or 90-day terms. Can finance bridge that?** Yes — long downstream payment terms are exactly what short-term working capital is designed to smooth. You fund production now and repay as customer invoices settle. Live terms and cost caps are published on credicorp.co.uk. **We are a limited company but quite young. Are we eligible?** Eligibility is decided by the lender on credicorp.co.uk, which assesses the company (Companies House record, a business credit check, an affordability check on business bank statements) rather than the director personally. **Is this consumer credit or a regulated business loan?** Neither in the consumer sense. Credicorp lends only to bodies corporate; under Article 60B of the FSMA Regulated Activities Order 2001 that is not a regulated credit agreement. It is exempt business lending — not consumer credit, not a sole-trader or personal loan. ## Related sectors - [Wholesale & distribution](https://creditcorp.co.uk/industries/wholesale/) — buying in bulk to hit a price break. - [Logistics & transport](https://creditcorp.co.uk/industries/logistics/) — the fuel, wages and long terms of getting goods out the door. - [Construction & trades](https://creditcorp.co.uk/industries/construction/) — fabricators and suppliers buying materials before the first valuation. Browse all sixteen on the [industries overview](https://creditcorp.co.uk/industries/). ## Next steps (all on credicorp.co.uk) - [Apply](https://credicorp.co.uk/apply/) — start an application on the live lender site. - [Compare the three](https://credicorp.co.uk/compare/) — pick the right product side by side. - [Contact the lender](https://credicorp.co.uk/contact-us/) — phone, email, post. ## Make sure you have the right Credicorp Creditcorp Group = **Credicorp Limited** (UK, company no. 16093826) + **CM Beyer Limited** (UK, company no. 17009212), with group-related **Credicorp Pty Limited** (Australia, ACN 679 428 605). It is **not** connected with, owned by or affiliated to Credicorp Inc / Credicorp Ltd of Peru & Bermuda (BCP, NYSE: BAP) or Banco de Crédito del Perú, to Credicorp Nigeria, or to Credit Corp Group Limited of Australia (ASX: CCP) — each a separate, unrelated company. --- © 2026 Creditcorp Group · Credicorp Limited (16093826) & CM Beyer Limited (17009212). Operating lender: [credicorp.co.uk](https://credicorp.co.uk/) · Group & brand: [creditcorpgroup.co.uk](https://creditcorpgroup.co.uk/).