A traditional cash flow loan from a banks point of view would be based on the turnover and profitability of a business. Before the recession cash flow loans were a prelevent form of bank lending. They were often used in management buy outs to raise cash to buy the businesses along with other purposes. It was not out of the question to raise funds many times greater than the actual value of the tangible assets of the business.
During a buoyant economy this kind of lending is absolutely fine however as soon as things slow down, as they did recently, serviceability may become an issue and as such the banks find themselves with large loans to businesses with very little or no security. It is no wonder the banks have had such a slating recently for lending on this basis. The recession hits and the banks no longer lend on this basis and are accused of not lending any money. It appears to me that they dammed if they do and dammed if the don’t.
The alternative to cash flow lending is asset based lending whereby a bank or financial institution lend against the asset of the business. These are predominantly invoice finance companies that will lend up to 90% of a businesses debtor book, provide a commercial mortgage, lend approx 50% against any unencumbered machinery and also have the ability to lend against stock and in certain circumstances provide international trade finance.
Whilst a bank has the ability to provide asset based lending they don’t tend to have the expertise as some of the specialist lenders and as such it is often worthwhile speaking to an independent business finance specialist to see what alternatives are available. XL Business has over 10 years experience in helping businesses in this often overcomplicated sector of business finance.
Tags: cash flow loans, invoice finance
