Hull pharmaceutical company sets sail for global markets with government-backed finance
A pharmaceutical manufacturer in Kingston upon Hull has secured more than £500,000 in financing backed by a UK government guarantee, a deal that lets the small firm ship medical products across three continents and prepare for a push into African markets.
For a company that restarted a long-shuttered factory less than a decade ago, the story is less about the money than about what the money unlocks: the kind of scaling-up that turns regional resilience into global reach.
A finance tool designed for exactly this moment
The funding, arranged through specialist non-bank lender White Oak UK, sits on top of a guarantee from UK Export Finance (UKEF), the government's export credit agency, via its General Export Facility — a product designed to help small and medium-sized enterprises unlock working capital for overseas sales. GMP Manufacturing Ltd (GMPM) used the cash to meet rising demand from clients in the UK, Europe and Australia, while continuing to grow its domestic base. The firm now plans to add another 20% to its workforce on top of a run that has already seen headcount climb by more than 40% since 2018, when a team of 30 reopened the former Seven Seas plant in east Hull.
Personalised medicine, 3D-printed
What makes the trajectory worth tracking is not only the export map but the production line beneath it. GMPM manufactures a wide range of medical products on contract and sells its own-label items, including Aseptic, an alcohol-free sanitiser the company says is effective against influenza and COVID-19. The firm is now extending its research and development capabilities and investing in new manufacturing technologies, including 3D printing platforms for personalised medicines — a frontier that, for a small UK SME, is unusually ambitious. If the bet pays off, the company's footprint won't just be wider; it will be qualitatively different, producing doses tailored to individual patients rather than one-size-fits-all batches.
What to watch next
Three signals will tell whether the moment is being seized. First, the African expansion: GMPM has named the continent as its next target, and a confirmed market entry — with a partner, distribution deal, or regulatory clearance — would convert a stated ambition into a measurable milestone. Second, the 3D printing platform: look for evidence of clinical or commercial pilots, the kind of partnerships that turn a press-release line into a working production line. Third, headcount and apprenticeship pipelines, which are how a regional revival becomes durable. Eight years ago this was a closed plant with 80 years of history behind it; today it is a hiring, exporting, R&D-investing business. The next chapter is the one worth reading.