Asset Finance

Asset finance lets a UK business acquire essential equipment, vehicles and plant without paying the full purchase price up front. Instead, the cost is spread across the useful life of the asset, with structured monthly payments that align to the revenue the asset will generate. It is the most common form of business funding in the UK after overdrafts, used by everything from owner-managed haulage firms to FTSE-listed manufacturers.

There are four main flavours. Hire purchase (HP) lets you take ownership at the end of the agreement after a final balloon payment. Finance lease keeps the asset on the lender's books and your business effectively rents it across a primary term. Operating lease behaves like a long rental, often with the asset returned at the end. Sale-and-leaseback releases capital tied up in equipment you already own by selling it to a funder and leasing it straight back.

Doulton works across all four structures with a panel of more than 130 specialist asset lenders. We match the structure, the term and the lender to the underlying asset rather than forcing a one-size facility, which is what keeps monthly costs low and approval rates high.

Asset finance is usually faster, less paperwork-heavy and less restrictive than a traditional bank business loan because the asset itself acts as the lender's security. That changes the underwriting question from 'will you be a healthy business in five years?' to 'is this asset worth what you are paying for it, and can the business cover the monthly?' For most growing UK businesses, that is a much easier conversation.

We arrange facilities from £25,000 for a single van or piece of yard kit, all the way up to £10m+ for fleet refreshes, CNC lines, manufacturing cells, agricultural plant and renewable energy systems. New, used and refinance all in scope.