FORMER professional rugby player Neil Adam Sinclair aims to expand his removals and self-storage business significantly, after securing a £100,000 loan package.

Mr Sinclair, who played for French rugby union club USA Perpignan, London Irish and Scotland under-20s, hopes to broadly treble the number of self-storage containers operated by his Sterling Sinclair Removals business to 35. He also plans to add two staff to the business, which was set up in 2016, on the back of the funding package from Barclays.

The bank noted Sterling Sinclair Removals’ long-term plans included opening another storage site in central Scotland as well as examining opportunities in England to “support haulage across the Border”. Sterling Sinclair Removals has operations in Stirling, Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Mr Sinclair said: “It’s an exciting time for the business as we continue to expand and develop, and the additional storage capacity will help us to grow both existing contracts and welcome new customers.”

Stuart Brown, head of small and medium-sized enterprise banking for Barclays in Scotland, said: “The business banking team has supported Neil since the removals firm was set up and it’s great to watch the business thrive. In 2018 we doubled the unsecured lending limit to £100,000 to help SMEs in Scotland get faster access to finance.”