Reach case study: invoice financing

Statistics show that more than £190,000 a day is lost in the UK by victims of cyber crime. Another study states that the number of significant global cyber-attacks has grown by more than 50% in the last three years alone.

It’s a worrying trend that can bring with it commercially catastrophic consequences. Fortunately, for a recent client of Reach Commercial Finance - the specialist brokerage division of Leonard Curtis Business Solutions Group - this wasn’t the case as prompt action resulted in a positive outcome.   

When the client of one of our close accountancy firm contacts was served a County Court Judgment for a significant debt – it was identified through our internal software and we were able to respond quickly and collaboratively with the accountant advisers.

The situation as we found it

The company had been a victim of a cyber fraud when a large customer invoice was paid into a bogus bank account. This caused relationship issues with the customer which together with the impact of not being in receipt of funds led to cashflow difficulties.  In turn, the lack of available cash resulted in a late payment to a key supplier and the aforementioned CCJ was registered.

The company directors approached a loan provider to bridge the cashflow gap, securing a nominal lend, but not enough to address the needs of the business.

How Reach Commercial Finance responded

At Reach, we recognise the importance of relationships between lenders and clients and always make sure we fully understand the requirements from the outset. On meeting the business owners, we presented the most appropriate solutions - of which we have many to choose from - from our wealth of products, expertise and contacts.

By gaining a real understanding of the issues and concerns – immediate and longer term in relation to creditor obligations – we reviewed all available finance options and put the issues in order of priority, making the situation clearer and more manageable. It soon became clear that the best solution wasn’t a loan as had been suggested and everyone breathed a sigh of relief that they hadn’t yet committed to it.

The commercial finance solution we provided

We secured a £100,000 invoice finance facility that enabled the business to successfully overcome the immediate cash requirement as well as providing enough ongoing working capital to continue to operate day-to-day as normal.

Here’s what our SME client had to say about working with us:

“When our accountant recommended we speak to Reach Commercial Finance, we already had the offer of a £15,000 loan to consider. But rather than jumping straight in, we decided to meet the broker and I’m very pleased that we did!

“The Reach team acted quickly and met with us the following day to run through all the finance options available to us. It was clear that they genuinely wanted to help us as best they could, and their guidance and expertise was invaluable.  I’d be happy to recommend the team at Reach - they were there in our time of need.”