As the UK officially moves out of recession, premier Invoice and Asset Based Lender Venture Finance PLC announces positive growth in its client numbers for the last quarter of 2009. This is the second consecutive quarter Venture has seen such expansion, providing further evidence of the rising awareness of Invoice and Asset Based Lending in the UK. Many businesses are now using its supportive, cashflow-linked, qualities to drive recovery.

With the UK economy growing 0.1% over Q4 2009, Venture own results follow suit: showing a 43% increase in new clients being supported, compared with the same timeframe in 2008. This contributes to an overall increase in new clients of 15% for the year. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the number of new clients taking Bad Debt Protection to shield against unforeseen unpaid invoices rose has risen from 33% in Q4 2008 to 56% in Q4 2009. This all comes on top of Venture's most successful Q3, in terms of new client numbers, for a decade.

These results serve as a pleasing footnote to a strong year for the Invoice and Asset Based Lender. Venture turned 20 years old in 2009, and initiated an industry think tank discussion to examine Invoice and Asset Based Lending's position as a mainstream funding option for businesses and scrutinise the opportunities to maximise its potential during the recovery and beyond. This culminated in the publishing of a white paper designed to stimulate further debate.

Peter Ewen, Managing Director, Venture Finance comments: "These results are further evidence that many new businesses are attracted to the dynamic link Invoice and Asset Based Lending has with sales performance: automatically adjusting to enable growth during the upturn. As news hits that The Bank of England's asset purchase facility has not lent any money to businesses in the year since its introduction, it is clear services like Invoice and Asset Based Lending are the funding options of choice. They will be fundamental in helping businesses meet the recovery with strength.

"Looking ahead, we will continue to champion Invoice and Asset based Lending's movement into the mainstream of corporate finance. The industry must work together towards greater awareness amongst key governmental and business influencers as well as striving to remove confusing industry jargon".


Note to Editors:
About Venture Finance - www.venture-finance.co.uk
Venture Finance is an award-winning premier independent Invoice and Asset Based Lender, established in 1989. Venture was the first independent invoice financier to offer Asset Based Lending (ABL) in the UK in 1990 and was the first authorised independent invoice financier to provide the Government's Small Firms Loan Guarantee Scheme. It is now active in the new and improved Enterprise Finance Guarantee scheme.

As part of the ABN AMRO group and ultimately owned by the Dutch Government, Venture Finance is a solid and dependable funding partner for business. The company's award-winning service has already helped thousands of businesses, from start-ups through to £150m organisations, providing reliable finance tailored to individual client needs. Venture Finance handles almost £4 billion in client invoices every year, through 200+ staff in 11 regional offices.

Factoring and Invoice Discounting are core services for the business. They both release ongoing working capital back into client businesses, based on the value of outstanding invoices and other assets. Versatile funding services both are ideal for clients needing to manage cashflow, refinance or restructure, fund business opportunities, purchase new machinery, merge with or acquire a new business or expand operations. Both can be combined with Bad Debt Protection to shield against unpaid invoices.