Mark Shackleton, the regional director at KBC Business Capital in the North West, is stepping into this week’s Ask the Expert hotseat. With increasing numbers of distressed companies looking to raise funds against their assets to survive the downturn, Mark is standing by to answer questions on any issue relating to asset-based lending. He is also on hand to provide guidance on funding buyouts, buy-ins and refinancing. If you have a question for Mark, please click here to use our anonymous online form.

Low-cost airline Ryanair has announced further expansion to its services from Liverpool John Lennon Airport (JLA). The budget carrier is to operate a twice-weekly service to Szczecin in Poland starting in May. Robin Tudor, head of PR for Peel Airports Group, said: “Liverpool is now by far the market leader when it comes to services to Poland outside of London, with more departures, more capacity and more destinations available than any other airport outside of the South East.” The new route means there are flights from Liverpool to nine destinations in Poland.

Logistics and transport giant Stobart Group has sold part of its inland ports asset to Legal & General Assurance in a deal worth up to £62.5m. Legal & General will pay £61m in cash for the 528,000 sq ft sustainable warehouse facility in Widnes, including a sale and leaseback of the inland port, rising to £62.5m providing certain conditions are met. The facility, part of the Mersey Multimodal Gateway estate, was last month confirmed as the new northern distribution centre for supermarket giant Tesco. In a statement to the Stock Exchange, Stobart said it would use the cash to repay existing borrowings with the Royal Bank of Scotland and Barclays, reducing core debt to approximately £45m. It will also help to provide the “optimum debt structure” for future developments at London Southend Airport and the next phases of development at Widnes.