Growing Your Exports with UK Export Finance: A Guide for UK Businesses
Introduction
Expanding into international markets is a huge opportunity for UK businesses – but it often comes with financial challenges. How can a company fulfil a large overseas order without straining its cash flow? What if a foreign buyer delays payment, or currency rates move against you?
This is where UK Export Finance (UKEF) and smart funding solutions step in. UKEF is the UK government’s export credit agency, and it plays a pivotal role in helping businesses – from ambitious tech startups to established manufacturers – win contracts, get paid, and fuel global growth.
In this article, we’ll explore how you can leverage UKEF support alongside tools like trade finance, invoice factoring, foreign exchange (FX) services, and business loans to successfully grow your export sales.
Looking for Trade Finance ? Let Inspire Match help.
What Is UK Export Finance (UKEF)?
UK Export Finance (UKEF) is a government department that helps UK companies secure the funding and insurance they need to export their goods and services. Its mission is essentially to ensure no viable UK export fails for lack of finance or insurance. In practical terms, UKEF provides support through export credit insurance, loan guarantees, and direct financing:
Export Insurance: UKEF offers insurance policies to protect exporters against the risk of not getting paid by overseas customers. If a foreign buyer defaults or political events prevent payment, UKEF’s insurance can cover a major portion of the loss. This safety net gives businesses the confidence to venture into new markets where private insurers might not offer coverage [*]
Loan Guarantees (Trade Finance Support): UKEF can guarantee up to 80% of a loan or credit facility from a commercial lender, so that your bank is more willing to extend the funds you need to fulfill an export contract. For example, under its Export Working Capital Scheme and General Export Facility, UKEF’s guarantee to your bank can unlock working capital loans or bonding facilities that enable you to take on larger overseas orders [*] Essentially, the government shares the risk with your lender, making it easier for your business to borrow.
Direct Loans: In some cases, UKEF can lend money directly to your international buyer (or their banks) to finance the purchase of your products or services. This helps UK exporters offer attractive financing terms to foreign buyers. UKEF’s Buyer Credit Facility and Direct Lending Facility are examples where overseas buyers get funding (with UKEF support) specifically to pay UK suppliers – ensuring you, the exporter, get paid up front [*][*]
By providing insurance and financing guarantees, UKEF helps level the playing field for UK exporters. When commercial banks or insurers can’t help, UKEF steps in to fill the gap [*]. The result: more British businesses can secure international deals confidently, knowing that financing and risk coverage are in place.
UKEF by the Numbers: How Many Businesses Benefit?
Government support for exporters isn’t just for the big multinationals – UKEF actively supports businesses of all sizes. In fact, UKEF is reaching more UK companies now than at any point in the last 30 years [*]. Recent statistics highlight the growing impact:
Record Support in 2023: In the 2023-24 period, UKEF issued £8.8 billion in export finance support, directly assisting 650 UK businesses in securing overseas sales [*]. This was a jump from the 532 companies helped the previous year and reflects UKEF’s expanded capacity.
SMEs in the Spotlight: Over half of the firms backed were small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) – UKEF supported 336 SMEs that year [*]. This SME focus is deliberate; UKEF has introduced more flexible products (like the General Export Facility) to make it easier for smaller businesses to access finance. According to UKEF’s CEO, they are now supporting more SMEs than ever before, after efforts “to serve more customers” started paying off [*].
Jobs and Growth: UKEF’s financing doesn’t just help individual companies – it bolsters the wider UK economy. In 2022-23, UKEF-backed deals supported an estimated 55,000 UK jobs, adding over £4 billion in gross value to the economy [*]. When your business grows exports, it contributes to jobs, investment, and prosperity at home.
Despite these successes, many eligible exporters still haven’t tapped into UKEF support. The good news is there’s plenty of capacity – UKEF had around £60 billion in headroom to support exports as of 2023 [*]. Looking ahead, the agency has big ambitions: it plans to help UK companies win £12.5 billion in new export contracts by 2029 and to support 1,000 SMEs each year by 2029 [*]. In short, more businesses are encouraged to take advantage of UKEF offerings. If you’ve never considered UKEF, it might be time to explore how it can enable your global growth [CTA – Enquire about finance options now].
Key Sectors UKEF Supports: From Manufacturing to Renewable Energy
UKEF’s support spans virtually all industries – if there’s a viable export deal, UKEF can likely help. However, there are certain trade verticals where UKEF has traditionally been especially active:
Manufacturing & Infrastructure: Manufacturers of capital goods and infrastructure contractors often benefit greatly from export finance. UKEF frequently backs deals for things like industrial machinery, transportation equipment, and construction projects abroad. For example, a huge part of UKEF’s portfolio is underwriting loans for capital goods exports – from aircraft and machinery to bridges and power plants [*]. If you build it in Britain and an overseas buyer wants it, UKEF can help make the deal happen. A recent case saw UKEF guarantee a £50 million loan to help Northern Ireland’s Wrightbus export electric buses, illustrating support for innovative UK manufacturers in global markets [*].
Aerospace: The aerospace sector is a prime example of UKEF’s impact. Building aircraft and jet engines is costly, and buyers often need long-term financing – so UKEF steps in to support these high-value exports. In fact, back in 2020–21, around £7 billion of UKEF support went to the aerospace industry alone [*] (for aircraft sales and related contracts). This support has helped UK aerospace companies like Rolls-Royce and Airbus UK’s supply chain thrive internationally. Even if your business is much smaller, the principle is the same: UKEF can provide the finance guarantees that give foreign customers confidence to place orders with UK suppliers.
Renewable Energy & Clean Growth: In recent years, UKEF has ramped up support for renewable energy, clean technology, and green infrastructure projects. The agency is aligning with the UK’s push for sustainability, aiming to provide £10 billion in financing for clean growth sectors over the next five years [*].
What does this look like in practice? One example is UKEF’s backing of a massive new wind turbine factory in Teesside – a deal worth around £367 million to boost wind power technology exports [*]. UKEF has also financed solar and wind farms, sustainable transport, and water infrastructure abroad [*]. For businesses in the renewable energy supply chain or other green tech fields, this is a golden opportunity: the government is eager to help you export your expertise worldwide.
Of course, UKEF support isn’t limited to these sectors. It’s available for any industry – from food and drink to digital services – as long as there’s a solid export transaction in need of finance. The key takeaway is that whether you produce cutting-edge technology or heavy machinery, it’s worth checking if UKEF can strengthen your hand in international deals.
Looking for a Trade Finance Consultation ? Let Inspire Match help.
Beyond UKEF: Trade Finance Tools to Power Global Growth
While UKEF is a powerful ally, successful exporting often requires a combination of financial tools. UKEF’s guarantees and insurance usually work in partnership with commercial trade finance services – and that’s where financiers like banks, trade finance providers, and platforms come in. To really boost your export capabilities, consider how these funding solutions could help your business:
1. Export Working Capital & Trade Finance Facilities
These are short-term funding solutions that ensure you have the cash on hand to produce and ship overseas orders. For example, you might arrange a trade finance line of credit or loan from a bank to pay your suppliers and cover project costs while you await payment from your foreign buyer.
UKEF can support this by guaranteeing the loan (reducing the bank’s risk), but you still need a lender or finance provider to issue the funds. The result is that you can confidently accept larger export contracts, knowing you’ll have the working capital to deliver.
Tip: Work with a finance partner who can quickly arrange export working capital loans – potentially under UKEF’s General Export Facility – so you never have to turn down an international order due to cash flow constraints.
2. Invoice Factoring for Exports
One common hurdle in exporting is long payment terms. You might not get paid for 30, 60, or 90 days after delivering goods overseas, which can strain your cash flow. Invoice factoring solves this by letting you sell your export invoices to a finance company for immediate cash.
For instance, if you ship £100,000 worth of product to an overseas client on 60-day terms, a factoring provider could advance you, say, 80–90% of that invoice value right away. You get most of your money upfront, and the factor waits for the customer to pay. This way, your business can continue operating and growing without waiting months for each payment. Invoice factoring can be used alongside UKEF insurance – if you have UKEF or private export credit insurance on the invoice, that can make the invoice even more secure and attractive to a factor.
Many UK SMEs use invoice finance as a lifeline for smooth cash flow during export growth. It’s fast, flexible, and based on your sales, so it grows as your international sales grow.
3. Foreign Exchange (FX) Services
When dealing globally, currency fluctuations can significantly impact your profits. Imagine you price a deal in US dollars or euros – by the time you get paid, the exchange rate could shift unfavourably and cut into your margins.
Professional FX services help you manage this risk. Specialist providers can offer forward contracts to lock in an exchange rate for future payments, or provide better exchange rates and lower fees than standard bank transfers. They can also set you up with multi-currency accounts to easily collect and hold foreign revenues.
Integrating an FX strategy means when you finally repatriate your earnings to GBP, you won’t receive nasty surprises. Smart currency management goes hand-in-hand with export finance by protecting your hard-earned revenue and helping you budget predictably. (Plus, showing that you have hedged your currency risk might make banks even more comfortable lending against your export contracts.)
4. Business Loans for Expansion
Exporting successfully can require scaling up – you might need to buy new machinery, hire staff, or even set up an overseas office. That’s where longer-term business loans come in.
Many companies use a combination of UKEF support and commercial loans to invest in growth. For example, if you land a multi-million pound export contract, you may choose to take a term loan to boost production capacity. UKEF has an Export Development Guarantee program that can actually guarantee high-value loans (over £25m) for exporters investing in UK operations to fulfil international business [*].
However, even if you’re borrowing a smaller amount, having a solid export order book and maybe some UKEF-backed contracts can make your business an attractive candidate for growth capital from banks or alternative lenders. The key is to ensure your financing mix not only covers the short-term transaction (the deal itself) but also the long-term expansion (so you can keep on delivering bigger and better export orders). A balanced approach might involve trade finance for immediate needs and a business expansion loan to build capacity.
As you can see, UKEF is just one piece of the puzzle. A holistic export finance strategy might involve combining multiple tools. For instance, you could use a UKEF-guaranteed working capital loan to produce goods, an invoice factoring facility to get paid upon shipment, and an FX contract to lock in your revenue in sterling – all in one export transaction. By doing so, you minimize risk and maximize liquidity at every stage of the export process.
Integrating Services for a Holistic Solution
To maximise export success, it often helps to get expert guidance. Finance platforms and advisors (such as our team) can assess your situation and tailor a mix of UKEF support and private-sector solutions that fits your needs. This might include helping with the UKEF application process, connecting you with the right lenders or factoring partners, and setting up efficient FX solutions. The goal is to create a seamless finance package so you can focus on selling and delivering your product, rather than worrying about cash flow gaps or financial risks.
In summary, growing your exports is absolutely achievable with the UK’s robust support system. UKEF provides the government-backed guarantees and insurance to give everyone confidence in the deal, while tools like trade finance, invoice factoring, FX hedging, and business loans provide the liquidity and stability to execute your strategy. UK exporters have used these to thrive in sectors from manufacturing and aerospace to tech and renewable energy – and your business could be next.
Ready to take your international growth to the next level? Make sure you’re leveraging all the support at your disposal, and don’t hesitate to seek guidance on putting the right finance in place. With the world of opportunities out there, a little financial savvy can go a long way in turning opportunities into lasting success.
Sources: The information and statistics in this article are based on official UK government data and industry resources, including UK Export Finance’s 2023–24 performance highlights, UKEF’s 2024–29 Business Plan announcement, and parliamentary reports on UKEF sector support. These sources underscore UKEF’s growing role in supporting UK businesses – over £8.8 billion in export deals in the past year alone – and its focus on key sectors like manufacturing, aerospace and clean energy. By tapping into these opportunities and combining them with services like trade finance and invoice factoring, UK companies can confidently navigate the global marketplace.
Let's get started.
Fill out the form below for a no obligation quote