SLJ Commercial Finance

About Us

Independent commercial finance broker specialising in commercial mortgage finance, loans for small business and Business Plans. Enterprise Finance Guarantee facilities. NACFB member. Former bank business manager with very many years experience. Please see my website for more information www.finance-broker.info

Commercial Finance Update

According to the latest CBI figures the credit crunch may have become slightly less severe for some businesses. Firms were less negative in the recent Access to Finance Survey than they were in February, about the availability of new and existing credit over the previous three months. Ian McCafferty the CBI’s chief economist said, “Firms are not saying that credit conditions are getting better, but the severity of disruption is no longer worsening as sharply as it was three months ago. And the combination of easier monetary policy and the government’s measures to support the banking sector may be starting to have an impact.”Firms said the cost of finance continued to rise and access to trade credit insurance has worsened over the last three months. Research commissioned by Venture Finance (an asset based lender) has revealed that the number of clients being refused finance by traditional lenders this year has almost tripled. Their last research undertaken in 2008 showed that less than 20% of clients were refused credit – this number has soared to 58% during the last 12 months, no doubt spurred by the recessive conditions.Small and medium sized businesses, despite the succession of interest rate cuts, have seen the cost of credit and particularly overdrafts, increase. Business lending data from credit research service CANNEX shows the major banks increased rates on the most common secured overdrafts by approximately 0.51%. Not surprisingly most asset based lenders (i.e. factoring companies) have seen increased client enquiries this year, driven by business owners and advisers looking to replace their overdraft rather than increasing limits.Another set of statistics going in the wrong direction were recently published in the FT,following research undertaken by Barclays Bank. It reported that the average debt owed each month to small businesses by their customers had jumped by almost 20% in the last year to £2,440. About 60% of the companies covered by the research said that they had problems with late payment and of those a third to the extent that the problem actually threatened their day to day survival.Prompt payment is a major concern for companies at the best of times, but the risks have increased during the recession as cash has been retained until the last possible moment before settling invoices.LIBOROver the last few months we have continued to see the gap between 3 month Libor and Base rate continue to narrow, which I guess is an indicator that the banking system is beginning to stabilise. The differential is now down to 0.77813 following a peak of 1.7850 in October. The FT reports that activity in ‘financial paper’ has increased and that lending for three months is back above that of the one month sector for the first time since late January.Enterprise Finance GuaranteeI contacted several of my banker colleagues for an update about the EFG as anecdotally, it appeared to be somewhat of a damp squib. From the responses it certainly appears that although funds have and continue to be advanced, there have also been a significant number of declined facilities. The starting point for this type of bank support is; would they lend the money if they had security? Clearly the answer has to be positive. The Scheme is not a panacea for all businesses and underlying viability remains key. Although most of the main banks are involved RBS/NatWest is the one that seems to have embraced it most. Given that it is 70% Government owned I guess that is not surprising.

Specialist Services

In addition to sourcing finance I can also produce a full Business Plan. Other areas covered include: Factoring/Invoice Discounting; Asset Finance, Payroll Finance, Finance against future debit/credit card receipts. Facilities via Enterprise Finance Guarantee

Trade Bodies / Associations

National Association of Commercial Finance Brokers (NACFB) (Full Member since 2005)(www.nacfb.org)

Opening Times

Mon-Fri 09:00-17:00

Trading Since

2005

Payment methods accepted

• Cash
• Cheque
• Bank Transfer

Other Services

• Customer Service / Helpline
• Free Quotes

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