When this temporary recruitment business’ existing facility with another provider was due to expire, its director decided to reach out again to Ultimate Finance to benefit from not only the right funding but also the right support to help meet their ambitions. Today we look back at their journey with us and how we were able to provide them with a new £1m Invoice Finance facility within tight timescales to help keep their business moving.
The company was introduced to Ultimate Finance back in 2019 because they were looking for funding that could help support their growth ambitions following recent changes in their management structure. Back then, their aspirations consisted of scaling the business and boosting growth with minimal additional increase in cost. We provided them with a £175k Invoice Finance solution which proved beneficial and helped the business grow quickly. Relationship Manager Louise Creek says, “The facility proved to work brilliantly for the business, and we developed a great relationship with their team. As their Relationship Manager I made sure that they had access to everything they needed when they needed it, be it access to cashflow or additional support with their facility and working with them was a pleasure”.
Unfortunately, because of the pandemic the growth trajectory was suddenly halted as candidates were no longer able to start new positions with employment legally moving to a strictly work from home basis.
As their trade grinded to a halt, their need for the working capital facility drastically reduced, and when the business was presented with an interest-free funding line from another provider it made economic sense for them to switch funding lines. The company’s Financial Director explains, “We didn’t want to leave Ultimate Finance as we were beyond happy with how the facility had operated so far and the level of service we were receiving from Louise and the rest of the team was exactly what we had been looking for. Unfortunately, the interest-free loan was offered to us when we needed it most during the pandemic and it was impossible for us as a business to ignore it”.
Through the pandemic, the business pivoted quickly and sought to provide its initial training programs virtually, and trade picked up again as financial institutions resumed hiring temporary staff through remote means shortly afterwards. With the loan facility due to expire however, the business was keen to reacquire an Invoice Finance facility to keep the momentum of their return to growth going. The Financial Director continues, “With trade volumes returning to pre-pandemic levels and our growth journey resuming it was clear that a standard loan was not the right funding solution to help support our business. We knew that an Invoice Finance facility had proven to be beneficial to our growth and therefore contacted Ultimate Finance to see if there was a possibility of rekindling our relationship”.
With their existing facility close to expiry, time was of the essence to ensure the new funding line was in place before the end of the month to prevent any delays to the monthly payroll. Regional Director Chris Mitcham explains, “We were delighted that the client wanted to make us their funding partner of choice again, and we pulled out all the stops to make sure we could meet their very tight timescales through our one-team approach”.
To help progress the application quickly we used the Open Finance technology platform provided by one of our technology partners, Alph4, to seamlessly and quickly provide the data our Underwriting team needed to assess the business’ eligibility for the funding line. This considerably sped up our processes by fully eliminating the need for the client to source and send the financial data our team needs, making the sharing of the documents much more secure at the same time.
Chris continues, “Our teams understand that when it comes to funding, tailoring a bespoke solution and delivering it quickly can make a real difference for a client, and so we make sure that we all communicate clearly and efficiently to prevent any unnecessary delays. Once our Underwriters approved the facility, the Sales and Operations team worked together to issue the legal documents to the client and get them signed so funds could be drawn against as quickly as possible”.
With the new facility reflecting their impressive growth with £1m accessible against the value of unpaid invoices, and Louise Creek returning as the client’s Relationship Manager, the business is delighted to have made Ultimate Finance their funding partner of choice once more.
