22-07-2025
- Business
- Belfast Telegraph
British Business Bank reports creation of over 1,000 jobs in NI
The British Business Bank's annual impact report for 2024/25 is estimating that its activities in Northern Ireland will create 1,100 new jobs.
NI firms which have recently been supported by the Business Bank include the Pilates company Reform RX and the Lisburn-based lab equipment company Cirdan.
The company's research has indicated that the support in Northern Ireland will add £300m of additional turnover to businesses, which it equates to £100m over the course of the finance's lifetime.
Susan Nightingale, the UK network director for the devolved nations at the British Business Bank, said: 'The bank has a 10-year track record of delivering impact in Northern Ireland, therefore it is very pleasing to see that our support to 600 smaller businesses in 2024/25 is expected to create 1,100 local jobs.
'We recognise it can be challenging for some firms to secure the support they need to start up and scale up, therefore through improving access to finance for smaller businesses we drive growth and prosperity in Northern Ireland and across the UK.'
Businesses receive funding from the bank in a variety of ways, including direct investment of public cash, the provision of loan guarantees, and help in securing private funding.
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Across the UK, the bank supported around £6.8 of investment into smaller businesses.
This broke down as £1.2bn of public funding from the bank, £2.6bn of guarantees for lending and £3bn worth of private capital.
In the UK Government's recent spending review, the bank's financial capacity was increased to £25.6bn, enabling it to 'increase annual investments to around £2.5bn per year'.
