Wholesaler switches to invoice factoring to support expansion
Industry: Wholesale
Product: Invoice Factoring with Bad Debt Protection and Growth Guarantee Scheme top-up
Facility size: £3.3m
The client
This packaging business is one of the leading importers of pallet wrap in the UK, supplying commercial and industrial firms with tailored solutions at competitive prices. Their high-quality products and trusted relationships with customers have led to a period of strong growth.
The management team had used invoice discounting to manage cash flow for several years. This type of funding releases up to 90% of the value of unpaid invoices and allows the company to manage their own credit control to collect payments from customers.
The challenge
The expansion of the business was making managing cash flow more challenging and required additional working capital to support larger sale volumes, ensure greater stock availability and to hire more staff.
The administrative burden for the finance team also increased and chasing late payment was taking valuable time away from developing their growth plans.
The firm needed an invoice finance provider that could better support their changing business needs, as well as freeing up time to allow them to focus on streamlining operations and prioritising growth.
The solution
Recognising the administrative challenges the company faced and their desire for growth, Close Brothers proposed a move from invoice discounting to factoring. With invoice factoring, our in-house team manage the sales ledger, credit control and payment collection from customers to free up time for other business needs.
The experts at Close Brothers tailored a £3.3 million funding solution, which included bad debt protection to offer ongoing peace of mind that firm is covered from financial loss should new, pre-approved customers get into difficulty and cannot pay their outstanding invoices.
The addition of Growth Guarantee Scheme top-up also gave an injection of capital to support their continued expansion. This government backed loan supports access to finance for UK SMEs looking to grow, offering additional funding which operates alongside their existing invoice finance facility.
When changing providers to Close Brothers Invoice Finance, we recognise the importance of ensuring there is no disruption as a result of the change. Our dedicated relationship manager and in-house credit control team remained on hand to support the process and ongoing facility.
The result
The business can now focus on scaling operations successfully and continue growth. The finance team have freed up valuable time by switching invoice finance provider and using factoring for ongoing cash flow and chasing late payments. Thanks to the proactive support from their client manager and ongoing access to Close Brothers’ experts, the firm feels confident to move forward with their next expansion phase.
Switching provider can give businesses greater flexibility to support growth, investment and maintain cashflow. Find out more about tailored solutions with Close Brothers Invoice Finance.
