Finance meets fitness as Reward Finance Group helps company invest £500k in new gym machine

Demand from gym-goers to take advantage of the very latest in fitness machine technology has led to Reward Finance Group helping the company behind the innovative equipment to invest £500,000 into the business.

Speedflex, unlike traditional exercise machines, does not use weights. Instead resistance is automatically adjusted in response to the user’s needs. The North-East based company was established and funded by entrepreneur Graham Wylie, one of the original founders of Sage, and ex-Newcastle United physio Paul Ferris.

The equipment is proving popular because it responds and adjusts the resistance, allowing users to train efficiently and at an optimum level for the individual. This technology, says the company, makes

“the equipment suitable for all ages and fitness levels and has the added benefit of having little or no post-training muscle soreness due to its concentric focus”.

Speedflex supplies gyms throughout the country, and currently has 14 studios operating in the UK. And it is an increase in demand for the Speedflex machine and studio concept that has created an urgent need to manufacture a further 80 new machines. Hence a strategic decision was made by Speedflex to utilise SME funding for the stage payment of the manufacturing and delivery process.

That has seen SME lender Reward Finance Group provide Speedflex with a £500,000 revolving facility to support the process, having been introduced to the company by Peter Cromarty of North-East based intermediary, Corporate and Commercial Business Solutions.

Speaking about the investment, Group Finance Director of Speedflex, Mark Simpson, said:

“We have had a great response to the new technology, as gym owners can see it will make their facility much more inclusive, leading to increased membership, as there is no barrier to age or fitness levels.

“We have had to act quickly to meet the demand for the machines and while this could have been funded from further internal investment, the process ideally suited utilising a revolving facility.

“We are therefore grateful to Reward who quickly recognised Speedflex’s potential and provided us with a flexible funding solution, which met perfectly with our requirement. The facility will enable us to settle stage payments, as they become due, and reduce the facility at the point of sale. It will also allow us to grow the business at the pace we require.”

Alan Sanderson, portfolio manager at Reward Finance Group, said that the decision to rubber-stamp a flexible funding solution was a quick and easy one to make. He added:

“The amount of orders being received for the Speedflex machines demonstrates that this new technology is a great addition to the gym market, moving forwards. We therefore had no hesitation in providing a flexible funding solution to help the company quickly fulfil the orders and facilitate further expansion, as demand dictates.”