Greater Manchester’s firms can drive a transformative period of growth for the region

By Chris Whittle, area director for Greater Manchester at Lloyds

Businesses in the North West have enjoyed a prolonged period of high confidence. In fact, our Business Barometer shows that confidence levels in the region have remained above the national average for ten consecutive months.

And in Manchester, this confidence looks set to translate into a strong period of economic growth for the city. The latest regional economic forecasts have predicted that that the city’s economy is set to grow by 2.1% annually over the next three years. This is significantly ahead of the national growth rate which is expected to be 1.6% in this same period.

This should come as no surprise. Manchester prides itself on being a city of pioneers and innovators, and it has a rich history of being at the heart of our country’s economic progress. And to turn these positive forecasts into an economic reality, it’s our forward-thinking businesses that will have a crucial role to play.

Driving progress

The good news is that there is a wealth of ambitious businesses in our region who are well placed to drive this.

R Tindall, an Oldham-based manufacturer of fire protection equipment, is the perfect example. Over the past few years, the business has enjoyed an impressive period of growth, having doubled the size of its workforce in the last 12 months to 82 employees – creating a wealth of new opportunities for people in Greater Manchester.

But rather than rest on its laurels, it has ambitions to take this even further, planning to supercharge its growth over the next five years and take its turnover from £17m to £30m. Growth on this scale is not only impressive, it also helps to create new opportunities for people and firms in our region

More jobs means more people with money to spend back into the local economy. Meanwhile the development of a business like R Tindall also provides a boost to the local ecosystem of firms that it works with including its suppliers and customers. It’s the individual growth of businesses like this that can be a key force in driving the wider economic progress Manchester will need to achieve its impressive forecasts.

Strategic investment

Strategically identifying where, how and when to invest will be key for any business looking to play its part in our region’s economic prosperity over the next few years.

For R Tindall, this was its headquarters. We backed the manufacturer with a £4m facility so it could acquire a new 23,000 sq ft industrial unit, expanding its total workspace to 45,000 sq ft. It’s able to store an additional £600,000 worth of stock because of this, providing a significant boost to its distribution service which will be one of the key drivers of its future growth.

Alongside this, it also spotted an opportunity to provide a further boost to its operations through its machinery, so we helped the business to invest in three new, semi-automated machines for the production of its fire sprinkler pipework. Not only did this drive new efficiencies by removing the need for a night shift, but also halved the business’ energy usage and carbon emissions while doubling its output.

This increasing link between sustainability and growth is one of the reasons why we launched our Clean Growth Finance Initiative, which offers discounted lending for those looking to make their businesses more sustainable.

With many people being more environmentally conscious when it comes to their supply chain, investing in more sustainable equipment like R Tindall has can be another area that can help firms attract new customers and drive growth.

So local businesses have a critical role to play in helping Greater Manchester to realise its impressive growth projections by investing not just in their futures, but the future prosperity of the wider community. And the good news for firms is that there is support out there to help them achieve this.