THE DEAL:

Attraction World securing a seven-figure facility under the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) from the Birmingham office of Barclays.  Attraction World is a reseller of tickets for the world’s most popular attractions.  Its market-leading B2B arm sells attraction tickets via travel agents and tour operators, whilst it also operates two consumer websites, Attractiontix and Floridatix, making Attraction World one of the UK’s leading ticket sellers.  It also operates the Day Out With The Kids website which provides families with ideas for days out and activities, generating over 27 million visits to its website each year. Attraction World was impacted by the Coronavirus outbreak in 2020 and whilst it faced numerous ticket cancellations for 2020,  it experienced record bookings for 2021 departures.  Attraction World identified a funding need to bridge a gap as it headed towards the winter low-season ahead of the strong demand for 2021.

OUR ROLE:

From the moment the CBILS scheme was launched we were advising clients on successfully securing funding and as a result developed a deep understanding of not only the CBILS criteria, but how individual banks manage their processes.  We were able to advise Attraction World, a strong and well-run business,  in ensuring it presented the necessary information in their initial submission, thus allowing for a smooth process. Our role involved the preparation of the CBILS application on behalf of our client that described the complexity of the group’s business model across its B2B and B2C markets, its pre-Coronavirus ability to obtain a similar level of funding, the impact of the pandemic on the business’ trading performance and its future ability to service the facility sought.  As part of our work we reviewed and presented the financial case in support of the application.

 WHAT OUR CLIENT SAID:

“We are pleased to have secured the CBILS funding from Barclays and are grateful for the advice and support received from Cattaneo, whose handling of the process was excellent from start to finish.  Their team demonstrated a detailed understanding of our business, the CBILS scheme and the bank’s requirements, which allowed us to present our case so as to facilitate passage through Barclays’ credit process”

Paul Stobbs, Chief Executive Officer, Attraction World