Finance for Growth Seminars

Are you a business looking for finance to grow but are uncertain of what sources would be right for you? If so, these FREE seminars are for you!
Enterprise M3, the Local Enterprise Partnership for the wider M3
corridor, is hosting a seminar aimed at helping businesses both
understand and access new and established sources of business
finance.

During these seminars, you will:

• Gain a valuable understanding of what you need to do to
prepare for investment.
• Explore what types of finance are right for your business at this
particular stage of its life cycle.
• Find out about the range of new and established sources of
finance currently available to the market.

Sources of funding covered in the seminar include: crowd funding
(debt & equity), invoice financing, equity funding such as venture
capital and business angels and export finance.
Details of the seminar:

Date: Wednesday, 23 October 2013

Time: 9 am to 12 noon (Registration from 8.30 am)

Venue: Lyndhurst Park Hotel, High Street, Lyndhurst,
Hampshire, SO43 7NL

To book a place, go to:

www.financeforgrowthoctober2013.eventbrite.co.uk

This seminar is at no cost to you thanks to the kind support of
Guildford Borough Council and New Forest District Council who
are hosting the events on behalf of Enterprise M3 and a range of
private sector experts who are speaking at the seminars.

Small Firms at risk due to lack of credit checking

More than three quarters of UK SMEs have lost money as a result of a customer becoming insolvent, according to new findings published by information services company Experian.

The firm surveyed 600 SMEs to understand the impact of customer insolvencies in the supply chain; it found that, in the last five years, 76% of SMEs have lost money as a result of customers failing. Nearly a fifth (19%) of these businesses each lost between £5,000 and £10,000, while 35% lost more than £10,000 over five years.

When asked how often credit checks were carried out, 68% of SME owners said they checked their customers’ and suppliers’ credit ratings at least once a year; 24% admitted that they only credit checked new customers, and didn’t carry out ongoing checks; 38% had been running a business for over two years but had only just started carrying out regular checks; and 34% of business owners only started monitoring suppliers after they had already lost money. Ade Potts, managing director of Experian’s SME business for the UK and Ireland, said: “Waiting until you’ve lost money to do credit checks is a bit like shutting the stable door after the horse has bolted. Unless businesses check the credit status of their customers at least once every six months, they risk exposing themselves to further loss.

“The rate of deterioration is far quicker for companies in today’s climate, so the sooner you can spot the signs of financial stress, the sooner you can react. Ongoing monitoring, addressing financial issues such as late payment of invoices head-on and not relying on one big customer or supplier will help lessen the risk of further losses as a result of insolvencies.”

Debt Crowdfunding for Non Limited Businesses

Up until now debt Crowdfunding has only been available to Limited Companies and LLPs with at least 2 years accounts filed at Companies House. On the 21st October Funding Circle will be launching their new service for Non Limited Businesses.
Pegasus Funding Resources is proud to announce that we are one of only 150 brokers who have been authorised to offer this new facility to clients.
An application will require the same information as for limited companies plus bank statements and details of property ownership. This includes: Year to date financial information (management accounts) for the business as for limited company applications, no more than 3 months old including:
• Turnover
• Cost of sales
• Admin expenses
• Interest paid
• Tax paid
• Other (if applicable, please specify)
• Net profit
• 3 months of business bank statements
• Last 2 years of formal accounts
• Statement of personal assets or details of property ownership including address, value and mortgage outstanding for all partners
• Name, address and date of birth of all partners
• Details of the partnership split (but not the partnership agreement document)
• Certified photographic I.D. and proof of address for all proprietors
• Outstanding loans & credit info
• Completed application form submitted online.

Minimum loan size is £25,000, loans above £100,000 will require sufficient security in the form of fixed assets. The business will need to demonstrate affordability of the loan. This is a much needed new service to SMEs.

To find out more contact:
Peter Kelly
Pegasus Funding Resources
01932 244810
Peter.kelly@pegasusfunding.co.uk

Entrepreneurs Succeed with us. Launch date 24th July

Peter Kelly the founder of Pegasus Funding Resources has Co-authored this exciting new business book for SMEs.

This book is a highly readable set of principles and actions, which will convert readily into increased performance and profits in your business.

Entrepreneurs can sometimes struggle to meet the goals they have set themselves and may need help to create the high performance business of their dreams. The aim of Entrepreneurs Succeed with Us is to help such entrepreneurs get to grips with difficult to identify and resolve business-critical issues and kick-start growth plans to achieve their goals. These may include a successful exit strategy. The book has been written by a team of highly capable professionals who appreciate the pressures of an entrepreneur's day to day and longer term problems. Its content is designed to help them recover from difficult situations by getting to the root causes of their sleepless nights.

Entrepreneurs Succeed with Us addresses a range of key issues that face all entrepreneurs at some point in their business. It examines the health of a company and helps re-examine both the company mission and the owners personal vision for the future. It also identifies alternatives to banks for financing the business, improvements that can be made to marketing to kick-start growth and the best strategies for a successful exit to your retirement plan. The book also explains how developing a growth mindset is vital to any companys future success, as is avoiding many of the pitfalls in developing ICT systems and complying with employment and other laws.

To find out more Click here to see all about the authors:
And Click here to buy from Amazon

Insolvency Figures show better start to the summer.

The latest Business Insolvency Index from Experian reveals that, overall, the business insolvency rate for the UK maintained its low level of 0.08% for the fourth month running, down from 0.09% in May 2012.

The insolvency rate fell in seven out of the 11 government regions in May 2013 – a major improvement on the same month in 2012, when just one region, Yorkshire, saw an improvement on the previous year. Insolvencies in the north east fell from 0.14% in May 2012 to 0.11% in May 2013, and Scotland also continued its recent form as insolvency rates stayed at 0.03% for the sixth month in a row.

Looking at insolvencies by company size, smaller businesses – which represent the vast majority of UK companies – have again done well. The best performance compared to last May was among companies with six to 10 employees, down from 0.20% to 0.16%. In fact, the insolvency rate amongst all companies with less than 10 employees, representing 1.8 million businesses, hasn’t risen for the last four months.

Max Firth, managing director of Experian Business Information Services for the UK and Ireland, said: “May’s insolvency figures show improvements across many areas of the UK. What’s particularly pleasing is that insolvencies among smaller businesses, which are the backbone of the UK economy, are showing a longer-term change for the better, while building and construction firms can also take heart at the drop-off in insolvencies after a particularly difficult period.”

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Asset Based Finance Helping SMEs

New figures from the Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA) show increasing numbers of smaller businesses turning to invoice finance, against a backdrop of some tentative signs of economic recovery.  
 
The latest figures (for Quarter 1, January – March 2013) see smaller firms increasingly using asset-based finance (£0 - £500,000 t/o) with client numbers in this bracket up by 439 or 3% just in the past quarter alone (Q4 2012 – Q1 2013). In total over 15,000 of the smallest businesses in the UK and Ireland are supported by asset-based finance, using the products for working capital and to fund growth. This is the highest figure for these smallest firms for nearly three years.
 
Overall the asset-based finance industry and the clients it supports have demonstrated encouraging growth.  Total sales from businesses using the products are up 9% compared to the same period last year (Q1 2012 – Q1 2013), hitting £63bn.
 
Total funding provided by the industry to clients has also risen, with advances from the ABFA’s members growing from £15.3bn last year (March ’12) to £16.3bn this year (March ’13), an increase of 6%.  This figure for funding provided is even more notable when set against the contraction seen in other forms of finance provided to SMEs (UK net lending was down 2% compared to the same period in 2012).
 
With the total number of businesses of all sizes supported by asset-based finance also rising by nearly a thousand year on year, it is clear that there is a developing awareness and appreciation of the industry’s products that are available.
 
Kate Sharp, chief executive of the Asset Based Finance Association, said: “It is extremely heartening to see so many of the smallest businesses choosing to use asset-based finance to fund their growth. Having recently surveyed accountants we know they say that access to funding is still a major issue for their clients. With some signs of confidence returning it becomes ever more important that firms can take advantage of the new opportunities that growth presents.
This is where asset-based finance already plays an important part, and our industry is ready and willing to do more to help fund the recovery.”

How safe is your cash with a bank?

 Having money in your bank is safe?   Well maybe not!

Since Carr vs Carr in 1811, when you deposit your money with a bank they create a debtor account and you become an unsecured creditor of the bank.
However, UK financial institutions with a banking licence are covered by the Financial Services Compensation Scheme (FSCS), which is designed to protect your deposit if the bank were to become insolvent.
The limit is £85,000 per person. So for a joint account cover of £170,000 is available.
If you have more than these amounts in a bank or building society account do make sure you spread it around amongst other banking licence institutions to protect yourself.
However, one thing to be aware of is that this limit is per banking institution - not per individual bank, so Lloyds and Cheltenham and Gloucester come under the same licence.
As an example, recently the Co-op bank has been in the news since Moody’s downgraded it’s credit rating to “junk bond” status.
Within the same banking institution as the Co-op bank is Britannia Building Society. Therefore, if you held an account in your own name only with both institutions with £50,000 in each of them you would in fact not be properly covered if the bank were to fail.
In total your deposits amount to £100,000 but since both institutions are under the same banking licence, in a worst case scenario only £85,000 of this amount would be covered.
So make sure that you spread your money around banks with separate licences.
I spoke to a prospective client who had €300,000 in one bank in Portugal.
He thought he was cautious and wanted to leave that money in a deposit account rather than putting it into investments. I advised to him was to move it asap and spread it around at least 4 separate banking institutions – This risk is lower even if he is getting a lower interest rate than with his current bank.
The aim must be to preserve capital even if you lose a small amount on the interest rate.
If you have any queries on where your money is currently held and you are concerned about what to do, please do call me on 01483 453755.