Sun's out, fun(d)'s out...

Welcome to the May edition of "Boss in your box". I would like to apologise for the lack of foreign finance news today, unfortunately our overseas correspondent has got Reuters block..

Moving swiftly on, here’s a brief reminder of the services we offer:-

Asset Finance (with a twist!)

Yes, we can help fund your vehicles, plant and machinery, often in a more flexible way and save you money too, but we can also fund skips, scaffolding and even software.

So when a client, an insurance company, approached me to finance tracking units (each costing under £50), for tens of thousands of individual cars, I welcomed the opportunity with open arms.

Due to the large number of units involved, with a very low repossession value, banks and other lenders will generally not consider this.  We, however, after nearly 30 years in the business, have built up exceptional relationships with our lenders and this high degree of trust meant funding was secured with minimal fuss.

The result, a very happy client, why? Because we helped protect their cashflow which enabled them to satisfy their growth plans.

What can we fund for you?

Equipment Refinancing

Last year I visited an engineering company in Birmingham, to sign up the paperwork for the funding of a new piece of software.

The finance director kindly showed me around the factory and whilst he was doing so, told me about the future plans for the business. They were developing a new product for the automotive sector, but the R&D was going to stretch their cashflow in the coming months. This was causing considerable stress.

I noticed the sheer volume of machinery, including some substantial robots at work, which it turned out, were all owned outright by the business.

The next day I submitted a refinancing proposal to the client, putting over £375k back into their cash reserves, helping ease their cashflow concerns.

Remember, as Englebert Humperdinck once (nearly) sang:-  “Please re-lease me, let cash flow…”

What can we re-fund for you?!

Director’s Guarantee Insurance

"We are happy to agree the funding for you, we just need personal guarantees from the directors"

For many, hearing that last sentence can send shivers down their spine. Should their business fail, through no fault of their own, the lender can come to them personally, to enforce repayment of the debt.

This is where Personal Guarantee Insurance can help. It will cover up to 80% of the loan rather than the business owner’s home, savings and other personal assets being called on to settle the debt.

PGI is a relatively new type of insurance that offers protection against the risk of a Personal Guarantee being called in by a lender. The level of cover is a fixed percentage of the Personal Guarantee the company director wishes to insure.

Cost will vary depending on whether the debt is secured or unsecured. If your business were to fail, PGI would massively reduce the cost to directors.

We can offer Personal Guarantee Insurance both for new and existing finance agreements.

If you're looking for PGI, or you know someone who is, please get in touch.

And finally, advice that everyone can make use of…

When a bank or finance company asks you for a proof of address, please don’t send a BT disconnection notice. Oddly, this doesn’t give a good impression.

And yes, this actually did happen, thankfully the client sent it to me first!