16 Finance

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16 Finance Providing relationship based service for businesses that wish to have access to a wide range of funding solutions.

Before any funding structure is agreed, there's usually a stretch where nothing looks settled.Options sit on the table t...
20/10/2026

Before any funding structure is agreed, there's usually a stretch where nothing looks settled.

Options sit on the table that won't survive the week. Questions stay open longer than anyone would like. It's a recognisable stage, and it's usually where most of the real work happens.

The gap between a first brief and a confirmed structure is rarely clean. We keep several options open on purpose, because closing them too early can mean closing the right door along with the wrong ones.

Part of that comes from taking time to understand a business's plans properly. Once we do, the initial request often turns out to be one part of a wider picture. Getting that wider read takes time, and from the inside the time can look untidy.

Part of it comes from how we work. At 16 Finance, we're not tied to one funder, so we're comparing across 250+ lenders and what each of them offers.

That makes the comparison stage genuinely more complex. It's also what lets us work towards a structure matched to what the business actually needs.

Open questions can feel like stalling when you're the one waiting.

From our side, they usually mean the structure is still being built carefully.

If you're mid-process and feeling unsure where things stand, that's a normal part of a thorough conversation with more than one funder in the mix. Happy to walk you through it in plain English. 🤝

For our full disclaimer, please visit https://16finance.co.uk/

Our founder, Gareth Billington, spent 16 years inside a high street bank. Over that time, one thing became very hard to ...
17/10/2026

Our founder, Gareth Billington, spent 16 years inside a high street bank. Over that time, one thing became very hard to ignore.

A client could come in with a sound plan and a real need, and the shelf of products available still couldn't answer it. However well we understood the business, the answer had to come from the same limited range.

Businesses change over time, and their funding requirements change with them. A single funder can't follow that arc. It has one set of products and one appetite, and that's all it can offer.

Gareth resigned in 2019 to set up 16 Finance. The decision came from a clear-eyed recognition that the ceiling was structural. It sat in the model itself, and no amount of effort from inside one institution was going to move it.

In practice, independence means clients hear about the options that suit them. We take time to understand your plans for the business first, then outline the funding options that genuinely fit.

Working with farms and landed estates over a number of years made this visible early. Farm and land purchases, new buildings and machinery, on-farm diversification. The same has held across development sites and growing businesses, and each project has confirmed it.

If your funding requirements have changed, or you'd like to understand your options before they do, get in touch. Let's talk about what your business actually needs. 🤝

For our full disclaimer, please visit https://16finance.co.uk/

The form is the last thing a lender reads. It's rarely the thing that decides the answer.Bridging finance is short-term ...
15/10/2026

The form is the last thing a lender reads. It's rarely the thing that decides the answer.

Bridging finance is short-term funding that covers a gap, typically while a sale, refinance or development completes. On the application, a lender sees the loan amount, the security and the repayment route.

That's the tip of the iceberg.

What sits below the waterline is what secures the deal:

🔹 An exit strategy that has been stress-tested, so the plan to repay still holds if timings or values shift.

🔹 A funder panel matched to the scenario, so the case goes to lenders whose appetite actually fits it.

🔹 A structure framed with credit committee approval in mind, so the obvious questions are answered before they're asked.

Where bridging applications stall, it's usually down to preparation that was never done before the numbers went in.

That's where we spend our time. As an independent broker working across a panel of over 250 funding providers, we do the work beneath the surface before an application ever reaches a lender.

We built 16 Finance around relationship-based advisory work for exactly this reason. The outcome is shaped long before any form is signed.

The diagram maps both layers. The surface is small. The foundation is everything.

If you're weighing up a bridging loan, it's worth a conversation before you approach a lender. Happy to talk it through. 🤝

For our full disclaimer, please visit https://16finance.co.uk/

The machinery is ready. The farm plan is solid. Then one lender says no and the whole room goes quiet.That silence is wh...
13/10/2026

The machinery is ready. The farm plan is solid. Then one lender says no and the whole room goes quiet.

That silence is where most conversations end. It doesn't have to be that way.

A decline is one institution's answer. The wider market hasn't been asked yet, and that distinction is worth saying out loud.

The line that reopens the door is a question:

"What would the right structure look like from your side?"

There's no defending the setback or explaining it away. The question moves the conversation from why the answer was no towards what a workable yes might involve.

Agricultural finance carries complexities a single lender rarely accounts for. Land tenure. Estate structure. Diversification income. Machinery as a productive asset.

A lender tied to its own products can only answer with what it sells. As an independent broker with access to 250+ lenders, we can say something it structurally can't: "Let me take this to funders who know this sector."

We've worked with farms and landed estates for a number of years, on land purchases, new buildings, machinery and on-farm diversification. We understand how these businesses are put together and how they're financed.

If a conversation has gone cold after a decline, it may be worth picking it back up with a different approach. Get in touch and we're happy to talk it through. 🤝

For our full disclaimer, please visit https://16finance.co.uk/

Three assumptions come up again and again when businesses first talk to us about working capital. All three point in the...
28/09/2026

Three assumptions come up again and again when businesses first talk to us about working capital. All three point in the wrong direction.

First: "We just need a bigger overdraft."

Maybe. But before we agree, we look at what's actually going on underneath. Is it a timing issue, the way a contract is structured, or a gap between invoicing and getting paid? More often than not, the overdraft would treat the symptom rather than the cause, and a more targeted facility fits better.

Second: "We can't apply until the contract is signed."

We check how far along the pipeline is, what the trading history looks like, and whether a facility can be structured in advance. Businesses are often surprised to learn they can have funding in place before the contract lands, rather than scrambling for it after.

Third: "Working capital finance is only for businesses in trouble."

This one comes up the most. What we usually find is a business growing faster than its cash flow can support, which is a very different problem. The conversation shifts from "do we qualify?" to "which structure fits our growth plan?"

We see these three assumptions across trading, property, and agricultural businesses. Mapping them side by side shows how the right diagnosis changes the answer entirely.

If any of them sound familiar, it's worth a proper conversation. Happy to talk it through in plain English. 💬

for Full Disclaimers please visit www.16finance.co.uk

A map only works if you know how to read it.Access to 250+ lenders sounds impressive on paper. On its own, it's just a l...
26/09/2026

A map only works if you know how to read it.

Access to 250+ lenders sounds impressive on paper. On its own, it's just a lot of routes on a page. What turns that into something useful is knowing which door to knock on, and in what order, for the business in front of you.

That knowledge doesn't come quickly.

Our founder, Gareth Billington, spent 16 years inside a high street bank before setting up 16 Finance in 2019. Over 20+ years he has funded businesses across trading, property and agricultural finance, and seen how a deal that gets a no in one place finds a home in another with terms that actually suit.

A single lender reads the landscape through one lens. It has one set of products, one appetite, one answer. That's the whole map it can offer you.

We read it differently.

Development finance, agricultural finance, working capital, asset finance, property investment solutions. Knowing where each of those sits, and which route fits a particular business, is the part two decades of doing this teaches you. The map is only as good as the person tracing the route.

If you're weighing up a funding decision and want someone who knows the lending landscape properly, it's worth a conversation. 🔑

For our full disclaimer, please visit https://16finance.co.uk/

On paper, a farm looks like any other commercial borrower. Turnover, assets, a trading history. Yet lenders assess it in...
24/09/2026

On paper, a farm looks like any other commercial borrower. Turnover, assets, a trading history. Yet lenders assess it in a completely different way, and most owners only discover the gap when they're mid-application.

Four things a specialist looks at differently:

Land is not just collateral. A high street bank values agricultural land on a standard property matrix. A specialist factors in soil grade, planning history, and whether the land generates income on its own. That difference in approach can be the difference between a yes and a no.

Diversification changes the risk picture. Add a holiday let, a solar array, or a processing unit, and the income streams multiply. So does the complexity assessment. Most banks underwrite the farming operation in isolation. Specialist lenders model the whole estate, which often unlocks higher loan-to-value ratios.

A farm is rarely one business. Lenders who treat it as one rarely get the deal right. 🌾

Agricultural finance rewards preparation. Know what your lender is actually assessing before you walk in.

If you're weighing up a farm purchase, new buildings, machinery, or a diversification project, it's worth a proper conversation before you approach a lender. Happy to talk it through.

A farm is rarely just a farm anymore.A working farm might run cattle, let out converted barns, sell direct from a farm s...
21/09/2026

A farm is rarely just a farm anymore.

A working farm might run cattle, let out converted barns, sell direct from a farm shop, and lease a corner of a field to a solar project. Several businesses, one balance sheet.

We call that on-farm diversification, and we list it as a project type for a reason.

A lender who reads a farm as a single-commodity operation will assess it that way. Seasonal income looks inconsistent. New revenue streams get discounted rather than valued. The structure ends up reflecting what the business used to be, not what it is becoming.

We see it differently.

Previous projects have included farm and land purchases, financing new buildings and machinery, and on-farm diversification on working farms and landed estates. Different pieces, often moving at the same time, each one affecting the viability of the next.

Reading the whole operation is the job. So is finding a structure that reflects how the business actually earns, with access to a wide range of funders rather than one.

If you're weighing up a diversification project, or new buildings and machinery to support one, it's worth a proper conversation before you approach a lender. Happy to talk it through. 🌾

For our full disclaimer, please visit www.16finance.co.uk

One conversation. Two completely different roads from here.Most business owners don't realise there's a fork at all. You...
19/09/2026

One conversation. Two completely different roads from here.

Most business owners don't realise there's a fork at all. You need funding, so you go to the bank you already know, and whatever they say becomes the answer.

But that first choice shapes everything that follows.

Go direct to one high street bank and you're standing in front of a single door. Whatever that institution sells is what's on offer. If your business fits their criteria, the conversation continues. If it doesn't, it stops there.

Take the other road and the picture opens up. Access to 250+ lenders, multiple product types, and a structure built around what your business actually is, rather than what one funder happens to stock.

We know this fork well. We spent 16 years inside a high street bank before setting up 16 Finance in 2019, and the reason we left was simple. From inside one institution, we could only offer what that institution sold. Our clients are not limited to one funder or one answer.

That's the whole point of the road on the right. Development finance, agricultural finance, working capital, asset finance, property investment. We look across the wider market and find what genuinely fits.

If you're standing at that fork now, or about to ask the question, it's worth a proper conversation before you assume one door is your only option. 🔑

For our full disclaimer, please visit www.16finance.co.uk

Clients see the approval. They never see the iceberg. 🧊The visible part is small and neat. A term sheet. An approval let...
17/09/2026

Clients see the approval. They never see the iceberg. 🧊

The visible part is small and neat. A term sheet. An approval letter. A funded deal.

Below the waterline sits everything that made it possible.

Before a single lender is approached, there's a proper conversation about your business, its trading environment, your finances, and your goals. That groundwork shapes everything that follows.

Then comes the work you don't see:

🔹 Selecting from across 250+ funding providers

🔹 Assessing your business against the right lender appetites

🔹 Structuring the deal for your specific sector

🔹 Handling the compliance detail

🔹 Negotiating terms, back and forth, until they fit

The approval is the tip. The rest is the reason it holds.

This is why we take the time to understand a business before recommending anything. A good outcome above the waterline depends on the work beneath it.

If you're weighing up funding for a project and want the groundwork done properly, it's worth a conversation.

For our full disclaimer, please visit www.16finance.co.uk

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