29/11/2011 by Geoff.

A blight on most British businesses is that it is difficult and expensive to secure loans.An alternative, but a well kept secret, is a loan from the European Investment Bank (EIB) which is distributed by Lloyd TSB, Barclays, Santander and the Royal Bank of Scotland. Typically the cost will be 0.7% less than a normal business loan. Loans from the EIB are not very well promoted so you have to ask. The other catch is that money may not always be available since banks have to apply for money in tranches. To be eligible for an EIB loan, firms must have fewer than 250 employees and use the loan to invest in growing the business e.g. buying plant, taking out a patent or investing in research and development.

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29/11/2011 by Geoff.

Slow payment or none payment are the scourge of small businesses. If you’re worried about your exposure there are four options:

·         Don’t trade

·         Advanced payment

·         Trade on different terms

·         Credit insurance

The latter option has improved recently but is still very sensitive to the state of the financial markets and insolvencies. Recently more user friendly policies have been introduced along with other features to help small firms. The major credit insurers are Atradius, Euler Hermes and Coface.

As with all things that affect cash flow firms should beware of complacency.

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