Thurso safety training firm in expansion mode
A FAR north safety training company is completing its expansion plans on the back of a £60,000 loan secured from from HSBC bank.
The extra accommodation at Thurso’s Ormlie Industrial Estate has enabled HelCat Training to deploy six extra specialist staff and diverify its business.
The £60,000 loan – part of an overall £210,000 funding package from the bank – has also allowed it to double the number of its contract.
HelCat, which delivers theoretical and practical health and safety training to businesses throughout the UK, has increased its accommodation at the industrial estate from one to eight rooms.
With both indoor and outdoor facilities, HelCat services range from outdoor forklift and scaffolding training to theory in IT and leadership. Clients range from those who have recently been made unemployed and those who are looking to boost their skills to offshore workers and public sector organisations.
HelCat founder Helen Mackay said: “Our reputation for delivering training has attracted more contracts, and contracts of longer length, from companies based all over the UK.
“Our aim was to provide clients with a more comprehensive training offering but to do this we needed to firstly expand our site. The funding package has helped not only to develop our premises but grow our expertise.”
Andrew Little, head of HSBC’s business banking in Scotland, said: “By diversifying the business and identifying different channels for growth, HelCat has established itself as the number one training provider in the region.
“HelCat started off with one room and one member of staff, now the business is a dynamic provider of training and development for a number of industries. We were more than happy to support HelCat’s evolving business needs by funding the development of its training site.”
The finance was allocated from the bank’s national £10 billion fund to support small and medium-sized enterprises and is designed to support Scottish firms and rebalance the economy outside of London.