Latest figures from the Asset Based Finance Association (ABFA) show the amount of funding advanced to businesses in the UK in Q3 of 2009 has risen to £48,667 million, an increase of four per cent on Q2 figures.
Indeed, one in six new deals was landed by Bibby Financial Services, ending a strong year for the firm which picked up the titles of Best Factor and Discounter 2009 at the NACFB awards and Factor and Discounter of the Year at the Credit Today awards. Bibby Financial Services continue to outperform its industry rivals, increasing domestic market share by 2.2% over the course of the year.
Bibby Financial Services UK and Ireland chief executive Edward Rimmer said: “2010 is a key year for businesses in terms of access to finance. We know from research we have carried out into the financial intermediaries sector that the question of raising finance is a key concern for four in 10 small and medium-sized businesses but, more alarmingly, three-quarters (74.3 %) have found that stricter bank lending criteria makes it harder for them to get funding.
“The extension of the Enterprise Finance Guarantee and HMRC ‘Time to Pay’ schemes announced in the pre-Budget will go some way to helping businesses access the cash they need in order to survive and hopefully grow next year, but the alternative finance industry will also have its part to play. These new figures from ABFA show that alternative finance is helping more and more firms who have found raising finance through traditional channels increasingly difficult.”
The figures released by ABFA also show a decrease in the average number of debtor days outstanding compared to the previous quarter. The latest figures show the number of days taken for customers to pay invoices dropping from an average of 62.4 to 59.8 days across the sector. Bibby Financial Services has put in place a number of key initiatives to further improve efficiencies in their credit management and collections service and as a result has seen a month on month improvement, to the extent that they now collect outstanding invoice payments a full two weeks earlier than the industry average.