Everybody is discussing the recovery, is it real, how long will it last. All of these are questions the Chancellor, and those that are very close to the chancellor at the Treasury, would really like to have the answers. Let us digress slightly to the world of coffee. As most people know, the typical cappucino is a coffee with a great deal of frothy milk, normally sold far too hot. Whilst on the other hand, an Espresso is dark and strong, and is not for the faint hearted when partnered with a double shot!
How is this related to the recovery of the economy I hear you cry? Well a cappucino is weaker, and has froth which will subside, and look eventually quite a mess . An espresso is strong and keeps the drinker of it going and alert for quite some time. A sustainable recovery should be based on two pillars, manufacturing and exports, which I suspect that our present uplift is not so based. I believe that it is based on consumer recovery and service based industries. Whilst any recovery is very good for us, we firmly need to push harder on exporting and manufacturing. Exporting especially into Europe.
If there is any doubt on this fact, just take a look at Germany, who is renowned for manufacturing and exporting, and no one would doubt their economic strength. So whilst our recovery is bright, we have to build, to make it lasting.
Any growth for companies, has to be well funded. Leasing and asset finance has always led the way for firms access to finance and to acquire new and crucial equipment. But at the moment, with banks still reticent to lend to newer starts, companies have searched for other forms of funding such as crowd funding, peer to peer lending, and even loans from so called pay day lenders.
It is time that companies took a harder look at leasing companies for their funding. Many peer to peer lenders ask for last two years accounts, and in the real world, we all know that will eliminate almost all companies under three years trading! Also many peer to peer funders will only lend to limited companies or limited liability partnerships. If you are a sole trader or a normal partnership, their answer will be simply no! Not so helpful. Moving to pay day type lender’s, their rates are normally so high, that it almost beggars belief!
Why do companies look to access such funding? Perhaps that leasing companies have too low profile, have a reputation of saying no to new starts, or just too difficult to deal with a leasing request.
I cannot speak for other leasing companies, but at Oak, we are funding more new start business’s than ever; helping to re finance equipment for more established companies looking to free valuable working capital, in fact our fast and friendly service is well known. What we offer is down to earth leasing, we are real people in the real world. What we do not offer is froth, mission statements and the like.
So how do you like your coffee, a frothy cappucino, or a straight strong espresso?
We are in the Espresso camp, along with Germany, and would be delighted to help you in your leasing both in the UK, as well as in Europe.
And remember, we do not have tablets of stone underwriting, limited companies, sole traders, partnerships, whatever, everybody welcome!