Paragon expands finance offering to soft assets

Richard Doe, managing director for commercial lending at Paragon, said: “As a specialist SME lender, our expansion into financing soft assets as well as hard assets reflects how asset finance is moving gradually from standard hard assets associated with factories and workshops to a huge growth in soft assets. This could be everything from software to shop fittings or office furniture.

“Paragon is working hard to improve access to funding for British companies, from someone who is self-employed to a mid-sized company, as our aim is to support SMEs in achieving their financial ambitions and to thrive.”

According to official government data, 75% of UK businesses are in service industries, with construction accounting for 17% and manufacturing 5%.