£120,000 Working Capital Facility Secured for Contract Mobilisation
Working capital finance can help established businesses cover upfront costs when expenditure falls due before revenue is received. Enness Global arranges working capital finance for businesses with time-sensitive funding requirements, including contract mobilisation, materials, equipment and temporary cash flow gaps.
Working capital finance is subject to status, lender credit approval and legal due diligence. Funding is not guaranteed and terms may vary depending on the business, lender criteria and individual circumstances.
Why Did the Contractor Need Working Capital Finance?
The contractor had secured a substantial fixed-price contract but needed to commit capital to materials and plant hire before receiving its first payment from the client. This created a temporary working capital gap at a critical stage of the contract mobilisation.
The contract also carried a strict mobilisation deadline. Meeting that deadline was important to the contractor's ability to begin the work as planned and avoid potential contractual consequences.
The underlying issue was therefore not a lack of work. The business had secured a new contract, but expenditure needed to be incurred before the associated revenue began to arrive.
Timing differences between expenditure and customer payments can create working capital pressure for established businesses. Department for Business and Trade statistics published in July 2026 showed that large UK businesses paid 15 per cent of invoices late during 2025, highlighting the potential impact of payment timing on suppliers and their cash flow.
For businesses facing similar timing gaps, business finance can include working capital, invoice finance and other structures depending on the company's circumstances, cash flow and funding requirement.
What Made the Contract Mobilisation More Complex to Finance?
The funding requirement was particularly time-sensitive because the contractor needed to commit capital to materials and plant hire before receiving its first contractual payment.
The lender therefore needed to understand the underlying contract, the business's trading position and the anticipated flow of revenue rather than simply assessing the immediate cash position of the company.
The requirement also demonstrated the importance of structuring finance around the underlying reason capital is required. A business with secured future revenues can still experience a short-term funding gap when significant expenditure falls due before customer payments are received.
How Was the Working Capital Facility Structured?
Enness approached a lender able to assess the business with reference to the strength of the signed contract and its expected revenues.
The application focused on the immediate mobilisation requirement, the company's established trading position and the anticipated revenue associated with the contract.
A circa £120,000 working capital facility was subsequently arranged to provide the liquidity required for the upfront materials and plant hire.
The structure was designed around the timing of the contractor's expenditure and expected receipts, rather than treating the requirement as a conventional long-term borrowing need.
No current rate, fee or loan-to-value is implied by this case. Terms for working capital finance depend on the business, lender criteria, facility structure and individual circumstances.
What Was the Outcome for the Contractor?
The completed facility was funded within the required working timeframe, allowing the contractor to commit to the materials and plant hire needed to mobilise on schedule.
The funding addressed the short-term timing mismatch between the contractor's upfront expenditure and its first contractual payment milestone.
The case demonstrates how working capital finance can provide liquidity to established businesses when significant costs need to be met before corresponding revenues are received.
A similar requirement can arise across a range of industries where businesses have secured work but face a gap between committing expenditure and receiving customer payments.
Jack Dowling, Corporate Finance Associate at Enness Global, said:
The key consideration was whether the lender could assess the strength of the contract and move quickly enough to meet the mobilisation deadline.
What Were the Risks and What Could Have Gone Differently?
The facility remained subject to lender assessment, credit approval and completion. Another lender could have taken a different view of the business, the underlying contract or its ability to service the proposed borrowing.
Timing was particularly important. If funding had taken longer to arrange, the contractor could have faced difficulty meeting its mobilisation deadline, potentially creating contractual or commercial consequences.
Additional borrowing also creates a repayment obligation for the business. The suitability and affordability of working capital finance will depend on factors including trading performance, existing commitments, cash flow and the timing and certainty of future receipts.
The successful completion of this case does not mean the same facility, structure or funding timeframe will be available to another business. Finance remains subject to status and lender criteria.
Important Information
This case study reflects one client’s circumstances and is not representative of typical outcomes. Terms are subject to lender credit approval, valuation and legal due diligence and may be withdrawn or amended by the lender at any time. As with any lending secured against property, your property may be repossessed if you do not keep up repayments on a mortgage or any other debt secured on it.
Nothing in this article constitutes financial, legal or tax advice.
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Let's talk nowWhat Is Working Capital Finance?
Working capital finance provides short-term liquidity for operational costs and cash flow requirements. It can help where expenditure needs to be made before corresponding revenue is received, including contract mobilisation, stock purchases and other business requirements.
