A recent survey undertaken by Skipton Business Finance found that more than 80% of clients surveyed felt they would increase their sales (either moderately or materially) in the next 12 months. Despite the difficult economic environment, there are still opportunities out there for businesses to grow and owner managers are shaping up to take full advantage. It’s being able to fund this upturn, which can cause the problems. Fortunately for our clients, they already have an invoice finance facility in place, which will grow in line with their sales success therefore meaning funding this increased activity is taken care of.
Where to look for funding
Many small business owners have never looked at factoring or invoice discounting to fund their business, as most rely upon personal funds or a modest overdraft from the local bank. Whether this is due to never having had to look for alternatives before, not being aware of other sources of finance available or, indeed, nervousness regarding the past stigma of factoring in some sectors, remains unclear. What is apparent however, is one of the biggest problems facing SMEs in the coming year will be how to fund their businesses, so there is naturally a need to ensure such businesses are made aware of the availability (and benefits) of invoice finance as an alternative. Overdrafts are becoming more and more difficult to obtain and in many cases are just not up to the job. Banks are being much more selective in their underwriting criteria and fixed overdraft limits, which are based on the past performance of the company, can prove too restrictive for many SMEs in the ever-changing business world.
Invoice finance filling the void
We are now starting to find that more and more owner managers are benefitting from being able to release cash they have tied up in their invoices via invoice finance providers (such as ourselves!). Such alternative lenders will buy the outstanding invoices and advance as much as 90% of the cash within 24 hours. This takes the strain out of the cashflow and provides a much-needed boost to a business’ liquidity. At Skipton Business Finance we have kept our doors open to all sorts of owner-managed businesses, providing working capital facilities throughout the difficult financial climate. We are committed to supporting SMEs and assisting businesses reach their full potential, as, after all, their success determines our success!
Why not browse our website today to find out more about how invoice finance can help quickly release much-needed cashflow, or give us a call on 0845 602 9354 for a chat and a free no-obligation quote.