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EVENT NEWS Breakfast Matters: November 2016 An insight into alternative funding With bacon barm cakes eaten and coffees poured, the large audience of members took their seats to be greeted by Chamber President, Paul Daine, for the penultimate Breakfast Matters of 2016. Guest speaker Les Gordon, Director of Reach Finance was then introduced, who was going to tackle his presentation ‘Funding Explained’ which he compared to attempting open heart surgery in under 30 minutes, prompting a laugh from everyone. Giving an introduction to Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group, Les explained that they are specialists in the SME sector and offer much more than just insolvency, with a wide range of service lines aimed at business rescue and insolvency avoidance. With the end of the year approaching, a fitting economic outlook was given detailing a number of positive key points such as the prolonged period of low interest rates, low unemployment without inflationary wage pressure and plentiful money supply. Low returns on savings have also led to a boom in alternative funding, leading Les to highlight the options when it comes to funding, including: • • • • • • •
Invoice finance Asset Based Lending (“ABL”) Trade finance Bridging finance Cash flow term loans Alternative finance market Private Equity offering (Aqvvs)
Detailing the key points of each alternative funding option, it was interesting to hear the facts and figures which showed a staggering increase from £1.74billion in 2014 to £5billion in 2016 for the alternative finance sector, highlighting the rapid growth of this route. With its increasing popularity, Les made clear the successful impact alternative finance routes can have on businesses, but took care to highlight the common pitfalls to avoid when choosing a provider; • • •
Roger Lamb, Satona Consulting (left) and Peter Collins, Find and be Found
Ensure there is good service and flexibility – this is key to a strong long-term relationship Finding the correct product is more important than getting the lowest headline cost Allow room for growth and seasonal fluctuations by choosing a provider without facility limits
An impressive insight to how Les and his team have personally helped businesses was given, detailing a £66,000 saving per year for one client alone. As Les’ presentation came to a close, Paul Daine thanked him, exclaiming how many things he learnt that he already thought he knew! Olivia Parkes, part of the team at MiniMe Marketing & PR Consultancy who work closely with the Chamber to produce Chamber Matters and produce their event write ups, then took a few minutes to update the audience on the latest edition of the magazine. With the Autumn/Winter issue due to reach members post boxes in a matter of weeks, Olivia encouraged
THE ALTRINCHAM & SALE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE MAGAZINE
Les Gordon, Reach Finance; Olivia Parkes, MiniMe Marketing & PR Consultancy; Paul Daine, President
the audience to get involved with the next edition by contributing to a number of exciting features such as Women In Business, Coffee With, Member News and more. It was then time for the business card draw, for which ‘glamorous assistant’ and Membership Manager Paul Mirage
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