Retailers have reassured investors that operations and trading will be unaffected by the crisis at Silicon Valley Bank’s UK arm.
Moonpig, Naked Wines and THG issued statements highlighting their lack of reliance on SVB UK, the British division of US-based Silicon Valley Bank, which collapsed on Friday.
Naked Wines said it “holds cash with SVB in a variety of accounts in the USA and UK” and that ”SVB is also the administrative agent and issuing lender for the group’s $60m asset-backed credit facility”.
Chief executive Nick Devlin said: “We are announcing today that day-to-day operations are unaffected and we don’t expect to incur any loss as a result.
“Whilst this situation remains fluid, we maintain a robust balance sheet with approximately £185m of stock and £17m of immediately accessible cash. We remain focused on delivering for our customers and winemakers, and continuing to execute against the pivot to profit strategy announced in October.”
Moonpig said SVB UK is one of 10 lenders that provide senior debt facilities “as part of a strong banking syndicate”. It said it has “significant liquidity headroom. Utilised and available facilities together total £242m, which are committed until December 8, 2025. This excludes the £13m undrawn portion of SVB UK’s commitment.”
THG reported that it does not have any exposure to SVB “either in relation to cash deposits or debt facilities”.
US company Etsy experienced a delay in issuing payments to some sellers following the closure of Silicon Valley Bank.
HSBC is mounting a rescue of SVB UK, which like its parent counted many tech companies and start-ups among its customers.
HSBC bought the UK arm of Silicon Valley after it was sold by the Bank of England.
HSBC said: “This action has been taken to stabilise SVB UK, ensuring the continuity of banking services, minimising disruption to the UK technology sector and supporting confidence in the financial system.”
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