Charles Day (Steels) invests in fibre lasers with government and HSBC backing

The HSBC scheme is designed to support small to medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to grow their business and is supported by the government's Regional Growth Fund (RGF), a £2.6 billion scheme operating across England from 2011 to 2016 that supports projects and programmes that lever private sector investment to create economic growth and sustainable employment. HSBC has agreed to facilitate up to £25 million of the fund via its 'Assisted Asset Purchase Scheme' to support small and medium-sized businesses that are purchasing assets such as machinery and vehicles in order to grow. Qualifying businesses with up to €50 million turnover can receive additional funds of up to £500,000 to put towards the acquisition of assets, which create or safeguard employment when the purchase would not ordinarily go ahead without RGF support. Charles Day (Steels) chairman Jonathan Day said: "These new machines open up the business to new markets and enables us to cut yellow metal, such as copper and brass by laser, which we haven't previously been able to do. "They are also very efficient machines to operate and are cheaper to run than conventional lasers. The machines are fed by an automatic material handling system feeding two lasers, giving us lights out operation, thus reduced costs for our customers. Combined with our sister company, The Laser Cutting Company Ltd, Charles Day has one of the largest laser cutting capacities in the country giving our customers a very flexible production partner. The support of HSBC and the Regional Growth Fund has been integral to the success of this investment."