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Business Cashflow Improves in Some Sectors but Finance Still Required

Tuesday 1 May 2012, 5:26PM

By The Interface Financial Group

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The Inter Face Financial Group
The Inter Face Financial Group Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/68751915@N05/6736189489/

The mid-April report from Dun & Bradstreet suggests that some New Zealand businesses have actually improved their payment times, bucking the international trend, with Retail, Manufacturing and Christchurch based businesses all showing improvement by up to 3 days on last year’s figures.

SME’s consistently showed improvement, while large businesses with over 500 employees actually worsened their payment dates.

Cashflow is still king however, and this improvement follows on from a year with some of the worst trade payment figures in the last decade.

Invoice factoring specialists Interface Financial Group say they are seeing some indications of economic upturn among their New Zealand clients, but the need for cash to help pay bills is still strong.

For small firms who are owed money by much larger companies, delay in receiving payment can create a high degree of financial stress, particularly if they are not aware of the services available to assist in streamlining their cashflow.

Kiwi company Kleantech are the NZ importers and distributors for a range of Italian water blasters and vacuum cleaners. They also supply the market with an extensive range of spare parts for most other brands. They operate from premises on the Kapiti Coast just north of Wellington.

Their use of Interface Financial’s invoice factoring service has helped them make timely payments to overseas suppliers and to take quick advantage of exchange rate fluctuations.

With many of their customers making payments up to 60 days from invoice date, the ability to have access to working capital from Interface at short notice has been a great help to their cash management.

"Being a small company it is always hard to fund the things you need, and unexpected events.” explains Mike Mark from Kleantech.

Interface Financial’s Chris Reid says the company focuses on supporting kiwi businesses who need a helping hand.

“From experience, there are three or four different situations when a business might need our assistance – when they are experiencing rapid growth, when they restructure, when they have unforeseen problems and when they have an opportunity that requires cash to take advantage in a timely manner. “

Interface Financial Group is an international organisation, with 12 offices around New Zealand providing invoice discounting services to assist with working capital.