Case Study

Vale Automotive - flexible funding was vital

Roger Malster, one half of the partnership behind a car body repair shop in the Vale of Glamorgan, will tell you that the business is in good shape today, thanks to the flexibility of his main business funder.

Close Invoice Finance was appointed by Vale Automotive in 1999 to provide an invoice discounting service. This proved to be a fortuitous decision because not long afterwards a major customer went down owing them around £9,000 and they did not have credit insurance in place to cover bad debts.

"Close Invoice Finance saw us through a very difficult period"

Roger Malster comments: "Close demonstrated a commitment to us by providing a credit facility which saw us through a very difficult period." He points out that cashflow is a very important factor in the running of a business like Vale Automotive, which deals in expensive body parts, as well as the need to invest and upgrade workshop equipment such as a spray booth, which can cost between £20,000 and £30,000.

The company was set up in 1996, when it was purchased from an existing business by four partners. However, Roger and his co-partner Len Butler bought out the other two members within 18 months. During the first year of business the turnover reached £90,000. Today that figure is nearer £250,000 with an average of 10-12 cars per week going through the body repair shop.

Vale Automotive had been approved repairers for a number of insurance companies and preferred repairers for several local companies for some time, but the turning point for the business came in 1999 after the company secured a major group account with a fleet of some 300 vehicles.

Since then the company has flourished, despite the bad debt which could have proved disastrous had Vale Automotive appointed just an ordinary factor. Instead Roger selected a business partner that was willing to put its faith in him and his team when it mattered and help the team to trade through its problems.

"Anybody else would have walked away -Close were different, they gave us every assistance because they realised we had a future - and we have," Roger adds.

Contact: roger@valeautomotive.com


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