Trade Finance Facility for Northern Civil Engineers

An existing client of Genie Lending Ltd, a civil engineering firm in the North of England,  was impressed with a  previous crowdfunding campaign that we arranged for him and was in need of further funding to both help cash flow and purchase new machinery and materials. The business has increased trading over the last 3 years from £200,000 turnover to £1.5m turnover

With the bank unwilling to help, the client requested our assistance once again. Whilst the business itself is in a strong position, the main challenge was the director’s net worth could not provide sufficient coverage of personal guarantee that would be required for the loan.

How we Helped with Trade Finance

Genie Lending were able to put together a facility of £250,000 over 12 months with personal guarantee as security, by persuading the lender to accept an additional guarantee from a major shareholder in the business whom is not a director nor involved in the day to day running of the business. This facility was agreed and ready for drawdown (subject to paperwork) within 3 days.

In addition, the Genie Lending was able to put together a Supplier/Trade Payment facility with a maximum of 120 days for repayment, provided on a fully revolving basis, fixed pricing driven by amount and term.

In this case, the provider settles supplier invoices on the client’s behalf and at their direction. They repay the amount advanced within the pre-agreed time frame for a pre-agreed fee.

This not only improves cash flow by giving the business longer to pay rather than the traditional “30 day” credit term suppliers typically offer but also gives the opportunity for bulk buy discounts when a business has multiple contracts to fulfil.

This type of facility is ideal for this type of business who is unable to use traditional invoice discounting as most of the debtors are contractual, something invoice discount companies find difficult to lend against.