| Informed Funding |
Message from Chris Dines, CEO of Informed Funding
I am delighted at the positive feedback we have had following our recent launch event at the Metal Box Factory. The event was a great success with over 350 attendees throughout the afternoon and evening, 8 informative and engaging presentations delivered by 24 presenters, 17 trade stands built and 24 business clinics attended (and not to forget, 270 mini cakes consumed!)
All the sessions were very well received (our opening sessions covering alternative finance was actually at over capacity!) The presenters provided great insight into their areas of expertise and experiences. We had great engagement from the audience with follow up questions and many tweeting and posting on social media whilst at the event. Our post event survey has also shown that 89% rated the event as Excellent or Very Good.
I would like to personally thank all the presenters and facilitators that contributed to the day, you really did provide informative presentations across a wide range of business and funding subject areas.
For those that were not able to make the event, below are some pictures and just some of my highlights from the sessions at the event. We plan to host another large funding fair in September, watch this space.
I am also extremely proud to say that following our successful launch, we can categorically say that we provide the widest choice of business funding in Britain! We now have over 70 funders on board and are on target to have 100 by the end of March, which is more than double our nearest competitor. Not only do we provide the broadest and largest range of funding options on our website, but we also differ as we do not charge any brokerage fees. But we aren’t stopping there; we are continuing to strive to our target of 150 managed microsites by the end of June and 400 by the end of year. Our focus is, and will remain to be to provide businesses with a breadth of information and direct contact they need to raise finance for their growing businesses.
Regards
Chris
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All of the sessions we held at our launch event really were insightful. We had a fantastic turn out at “The Alternative Funding Life Cycle of a Business” session where we had 9 expert panellists from leading Alternative Funding platforms discussing how alternative finance models cater to businesses throughout their funding life cycle. Our “Meet the Management” interviews also provided real life examples of how funding has helped growing businesses.
The exploration of Bitcoin and its underlying technology, the Blockchain, aided my understanding of how the technology it’s based on actually works and why a virtual currency is only one of the many use cases for decentralised computing. The points it raised, were one of many discussions in the evening networking!
I really enjoyed Alpesh Paleja’s forensic examination of our economic future, but sat there thinking of the importance of “Events my dear boy, events”. OK, Harold Macmillan is not around, but I reckon he might have seen George Osborne as a (crucially) lucky chancellor. Almost out of nowhere (it seems) comes an oil price collapse, leading to reducing petrol and energy bills and a claim that we are now all better off. What an amazingly timed piece of “good deflation”! In the meantime our debt still grows….and grows.
I’ve rarely enjoyed a panel discussion as much as our “Bankers’ Question Time”. Roger, Jason and David did a quite brilliant job answering some testing questions. Banks simply got too huge – RBS had a balance sheet several times the size of UK GDP (let alone that of Scotland). Wow, that takes some sorting out to bring to the scale and market position that our banks really should be – and they are not there yet. Challenger banks are growing as the big boys get smaller and break into pieces. This is still a very interesting market, but it’s reassuring that they are increasingly led (I believe) by people with the right intentions, often in a very testing environment. “Winning” at banking is still seen as a bad thing, but our panel still seemed up for the challenge!
I’d never met Stephen Hammond before, but he’s obviously a decent man, agreeing to talk and take questions on the evening of his Constituency AGM which, I suspect, many wouldn’t. Stephen “gets finance” because he had a career in investment banking – and that showed in his appreciation of the need for a long term (investment) view on major infrastructure projects. I sensed frustration in Stephen, which I shared, that so much gets in the way of making a success of big things that might transform the country – whether that is super-fast broadband everywhere (my choice, but going nowhere!) or HS2 (not my choice!). Personally I think the “Northern Power House” play is a great one, with “legs”...vote winning me thinks, but is it real? I wonder where we’ll be on that one in five years’ time!?
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We also had 4 very lucky winners from our FREE PRIZE DRAW
· A luxury weekend for the family in Medieval Bruges, courtesy of iNFORMED FUNDING was won by Ron Whitcher
· Rodrigo Barreto won £125 to donate to a charity of his choice, courtesy of Advantage Business Partnerships
· £50 voucher towards storage space, courtesy of Lovespace was won by Neil Herbert
· The lucky winner of the a magnum of Champagne, courtesy of iNFORMED FUNDING, was Habib Parkinson
You can also view our full event brochure here.
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Just Cash Flow PLC is a responsible specialist lender to UK businesses. They offer funding solutions to established businesses keen to grow and invest. Their flexible finance facilities can help business owners manage their cash flow and support their longer term funding challenges.
This is what some of Just Cashflow’s customers had to say about them:
'Dealing with Just Cash Flow reminds me of the way business banking used to work. The Just Cash Flow process was very quick and easy and the funds helped us make a quick decision for taking on extra work'.
Peter Sullivan - Avatea
'Extremely helpful and showed a very good understanding of what our business was about and what we were trying to do'.
Graham Gordon - TAS Ltd
The funding is an alternative to a bank overdraft or business loan. It puts businesses in charge of their day to day finance requirements. Because it is straightforward to arrange, business owners can concentrate on running their business and not how they finance it. They also understand that every business is different so will partner with other lenders to find the optimum finance solution for your business requirements.
Businesses can borrow between £10,000 to £500,000 and are offered maximum flexibility on repayment time. Once the facility is agreed, the money can be in your bank within 24 hours. You only pay interest on the amount you draw down. You can repay with no penalty and the sooner you repay the less interest you pay.
The process of applying for funding is straightforward and importantly, a funding decision is made promptly by a team of professional and experienced underwriters who offer a personal approach. Best of all it can all be done over the phone.
Call: 0121 418 6421, email: [email protected] or visit www.justcashflow.com. Just Cash Flow PLC will take care of the rest.
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Every business should have an “end game” and for most business owners that means an Exit Strategy – whether selling, passing to the next generation or winding up! Here we focus on maximising both the opportunity and the financial return on selling your business. In particular, we look at the need to finance your business adequately and appropriately in the lead up. Most successful sales have a background of timely external funding to give the business that extra push.
Who is this aimed at?
Aspirational business owners who believe their most likely “end game” is via selling their business for as large a sum as possible.
What does it involve?
There will be a mix of expert presentations on Exit Planning, coupled with real case studies of businesses that have successfully financed growth and then achieved an exit. There will be plenty of time available for Q&A and also networking.
During the course of the morning experts on Finance, M&A and Business Strategy will be running a limited number of one to one workshops:
· Stress testing your business growth strategy
· Assessing your Exit options
· Reviewing your options for growth finance.
The event will also be attended by a number of specialist Funders who provide growth finance and possible routes to exit. A great chance for businesses to connect with the right type of funding.
When: 23rd April 2015, 9am to 11.30am
Where: 154 -160 Fleet Street, , EC4A 2DQ
Cost: The Event is Free to Registered Business Members of Informed Funding. £75 (including VAT) to others. Tickets are limited
To REGISTER please click
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There is a vast array of different types of funding options for businesses. In this newsletter we provide an overview on a further three funding methods firstly, with a deeper look into Commercial Mortgages.
How long is a commercial mortgage term?
Commercial mortgages taken out to purchase business premises can run for between three and 20-plus years. It may be a long-term loan of 10-20 years taken out when the property is purchased, or it may be a much shorter-term deal used to refinance an existing mortgage. In all cases, however, the loan will be secured by a charge on the property concerned and access to it will be determined by the value of the property, the proportion of equity that the borrower is able to contribute and the performance and prospects of the business that will be responsible for servicing the debt. Commercial mortgages are mainly provided by mainstream banks and building societies although a wide variety of specialist lenders are also active in this market.
How does the application process work?
As with any mortgage application, the lender will assess both the value of the property that you plan to purchase and the ability of your business to repay the loan. The maximum loan to value ratio available varies but is generally around 70% and rarely higher than 80%. You will therefore have to put up the remainder as equity. If you are unable to do this, you may have to use the available equity in another property you own, an investment portfolio or insurance policy as security for any lending above the LTV ceiling. You will have to provide detailed financial information on your business and a business plan showing projected revenues and profits in order to demonstrate that it will be able to repay the loan.
Do I have to take out a repayment mortgage?
Commercial mortgages can be repayment or interest-only, although it has generally become more difficult and expensive to borrow interest-only in recent years. If your lender offers an interest-only deal, it is very likely to insist that you have an investment plan or insurance policy in place that will enable the capital to be repaid at the end of the term.
What rate will I have to pay?
Interest rates on commercial mortgages are set on a deal-by-deal basis. Your rate will depend on a wide variety of risk factors including the size and profitability of your company, its credit history, the size of cash deposit, the mortgage term and so on. Rates can vary quite widely but commercial mortgages are more expensive than residential mortgages because they are regarded as riskier.
Are fixed rates available?
Most commercial mortgage rates are variable, with the interest rate expressed as a premium over a so-called “reference rate” known as Libor. So you might pay Libor plus 4.5%, for example, the actual interest rate rising and falling as Libor fluctuates. You may be able to fix your rate by buying a “swap” that converts the variable rate you have been offered into a long-term fixed rate, although “swaps” have become extremely controversial in recent years and you should seek independent professional advice before making a commitment. It is also possible to borrow at a fixed rate without purchasing a swap, particularly from some alternative finance providers, although these deals tend to last no more than five years and are mainly used to refinance an existing mortgage rather than to fund the initial purchase.
What fees and costs are involved?
Aside from the interest charges, you should expect to pay an arrangement fee of around 1%-2% of the amount you are borrowing. You’ll also have to meet the cost of an independent valuation as well as your own legal fees and those of the lender. You may also have to pay a redemption penalty if you want to repay the mortgage before the term has expired.
Need to know:
You can obtain a commercial mortgage to buy a leasehold property but there will need to be enough time left to run on the lease. A typical minimum is 70 years.
A key advantage of buying your business premises with a commercial mortgage is the opportunity to benefit from the capital growth in the value of the property, which over time can significantly strengthen your company’s balance sheet.
It is possible for your pension fund to own or lend against your business premises and this may offer considerable tax advantages. However, you should seek professional advice before you take this route.
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Business Credit Cards
Business credit cards offer a way for companies to obtain flexible short-term funding up to set limits and to borrow interest-free for periods of up to 56 days provided that the card balance is cleared in full each month. Cards can be issued for can be issued with spending limits and restrictions on where they can be used, to prevent abuses.
Pension Backed Loans
Pension-based lending enables business owners to use their pension savings to lend funds to their company at commercial rates. Security is taken against business assets, which can include a range of intellectual property, provided it has been professionally valued. Transactions are arranged either as loans or as a sale of company assets to the pension fund that are then leased back to the company for a set period.
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