For an SME, the cruellest moment in any growth story is the one when a once-in-a-generation order lands on the desk, and the cash flow simply cannot stretch to fulfil it.
That, until very recently, was the predicament facing Packaging One, the family-run Cheshire manufacturer behind the patented MediaWrap protective packaging used to ship smartphones, laptops and other high-value electronics around the world.
The Middlewich-based firm has now closed a £4 million contract with one of the world’s largest technology companies, after a £700,000 loan from NatWest, guaranteed by UK Export Finance (UKEF) under its General Export Facility, provided the working capital needed to pay suppliers before overseas customer payments landed. Without that bridge, the multi-million-pound order would almost certainly have been turned away.
It is the kind of deal that neatly illustrates why Whitehall has spent the past three years recalibrating its export credit agency around smaller exporters rather than the headline-grabbing defence and infrastructure contracts of old. Referred to UKEF by the Department for Business and Trade, Packaging One was able to access the GEF’s partial government guarantee, typically covering up to 80% of a bank’s exposure, and convert it into the cash buffer the business needed to scale.
A patented product, a global pull
MediaWrap is no ordinary box. The patented and trademarked solution is designed to cradle delicate consumer electronics in transit, and it has won admirers from Silicon Valley to the manufacturing hubs of East Asia. Packaging One has now fulfilled orders across North America, Europe, the Middle East and East Asia, with North American demand in particular driving the latest expansion.
The numbers tell their own story. Turnover stood at £9.4 million in 2025 and the company is targeting £16 million by 2028, a roughly 70 per cent uplift over three years. At least 50 new full-time roles have been added at the Middlewich headquarters, and management is now scoping a manufacturing facility in the United States to shorten supply chains for its largest customer base.
It is a familiar pattern for UKEF-backed exporters. Earlier this year, Northamptonshire’s Pallite secured a £1.6 million UKEF-backed facility to meet global demand for its recyclable warehouse and packaging products, while athleisure brand Vanquish Fitness used a £1 million NatWest trade loan backed by UKEF to push deeper into the United States. The thread that runs through all three deals is the same: ambitious SMEs unable to fund the gap between order and payment, and a government guarantee that turns a “no” from the credit committee into a “yes”.
Why working capital matters more than ever
Cash flow has long been the silent killer of British export ambition. According to UKEF, more than £771 million has now been issued through the GEF scheme, the vast majority of it to SMEs. Yet awareness of the product remains stubbornly patchy, with many founders only stumbling across it through a referral from their bank or a chamber of commerce.
That is something UKEF is working hard to change. The agency has been rolling out faster digital onboarding, expanded eligibility and new SME-focused tools, a strategic shift covered in detail in our recent report on how UKEF is unveiling fresh tools to boost SME global trade. The agency delivered a record £14.5 billion of financing in its last reporting year, supporting more than 667 UK exporters and helping to sustain an estimated 70,000 jobs.
What the principals say
Kevin Ledwith, UKEF’s Export Finance Manager for Cheshire, said the case “shows perfectly why UKEF wants to support more SMEs to grow their exports. By backing them with our General Export Facility, we enable them to win and fulfil orders on the world stage, which means they can continue to sustain local jobs and growth.”
For Emma Chesworth, director at Packaging One, the practical impact has been immediate. “The support from UKEF and NatWest has enabled us to take on bigger orders than we could have managed before,” she said. “This has kickstarted a process: more projects, more people employed, and more local benefits.”
Rhys Lloyd-Jones, trade finance manager at NatWest Group, framed the deal as part of a wider pledge to British SMEs. “Supporting ambitious family businesses to grow internationally is central to NatWest’s commitment to helping the economy thrive,” he said. “By working with UK Export Finance, this funding solution has given Packaging One the confidence and working capital needed to fulfil an ongoing export contract with a major US brand and to expand into new global markets whilst boosting the local economy by creating jobs.”
The transaction forms part of NatWest’s £2 billion export lending package, which sits within the £11 billion UKEF-backed SME lending commitment made by the UK’s five leading banks, a pool of capital that, if properly drawn down, could measurably shift the dial on Britain’s stubborn export performance.
The bigger picture
Packaging One’s story is, in many ways, a microcosm of where Britain’s growth case now sits. The firm has a patented product, demonstrable international demand and a credible plan to double turnover. What it lacked, until UKEF stepped in, was the working capital to back its own success. That is precisely the gap the General Export Facility was designed to plug, and on the evidence of Middlewich, it is starting to do its job.
Read more:
Packaging power: how Cheshire’s Packaging One sealed a £4m export deal with UKEF backing