SIA Group worked with Argyll Partners and Arbuthnot Commercial Asset Based Lending (Arbuthnot Commercial ABL) to provide collateral due diligence for the refinance of multi‐channel retail business, Scotts and Co. In this transaction, SIA Group’s asset valuation and collateral due diligence provided informative insight into both the revolving stock funding line and accounts receivable facility structured by Arbuthnot Commercial ABL.

Scotts and Co. is a group focused primarily in the Home, Garden and Gifting sectors, comprising the brands “Scotts of Stow”, “Expert Verdict”, “The Original Gift Company” and “Bloom”.

Tim Hawkins, Managing Director at Arbuthnot Commercial ABL, commented: “We have been working with SIA Group on a number of transactions. We would like to thank them for their support in allocating senior resource to help us turn transactions around at the speed that meets the demands of an increasingly fast-paced, event-driven marketplace. It is great to be working with partners who are calibrated in the same way as we are and that are able to offer us the attention to detail and quality of analysis on which we can depend.”

Alistair Lee, Partner, Argyll Partners, said: “SIA Group brings significant experience in a number of key markets and from my perspective they are the go-to choice for collateral due diligence. In this transaction, trade debtors were not the primary consideration and the strategy for realising the value in the stock was of paramount importance.”

“Bringing SIA Group in at an early stage in the process is advantageous and helps us to formulate what we take to lenders in the first place. That lenders put great store in the work that SIA does is a big tick in the box for us. They are quick, helpful and friendly and know what they are talking about.”

Paul Craig, Managing Director, SIA Group, said: “We understand that advisors and lenders base their most important decisions on our pre-lend collateral due diligence and this is something that we never take for granted on any instruction. We were delighted to partner with Arbuthnot and Argyll to support their requirement for timely and comprehensive due diligence reports to ensure a successful refinancing of Scotts and Co.”