FireAngel secures new government-backed Covid loan

The AIM-traded home safety technology company had previously secured funding of £3.2m through the Coronavirus Large Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CLBILS) from its existing bank, HSBC UK, in June.

That loan supported the group through the first lockdown, and in the fourth quarter of 2020, the company said it engaged with HSBC UK for further support to meet the challenges of subsequent and rolling lockdowns.

As it had previously announced, revenue for the year ended 31 December was expected to be around £39.9m.

The board said that as revenue was now below £45m, the existing loan, which is set to reduce to £2m at the end of March, was refinanced under CBILS with HSBC UK.

It said the new loan of £3.7m comprised a CBILS loan of £3.2m, and an additional receivables finance CBILS of £0.5m.

The new loan, which would be used to pay off the balance of the existing loan, had a term of six years, with the first year being free of interest and capital repayments, and an interest rate after that of 3.99% over the Bank of England's base rate.

FireAngel said the timing of the new loan had impacted the audit of its results for the year ended 31 December.

As a result, it now expected to release its final results during April, instead of in late March as it had previously indicated.

“Whilst this process of stabilising the nature of government support has taken longer than anticipated, the supportive stance of our bank over recent months has enabled the group's return to growth in the fourth quarter of 2020, which has continued into the first quarter of 2021,” said executive chairman John Conoley.

“Whilst our Scottish and EU markets are still subject to various restrictions, conditions are improving across all our markets, and this CBILS support underpins our ability to respond.”

At 0843 GMT, shares in FireAngel Safety Technology Group were flat at 14p.