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cpucyc
10-04-2005, 03:11 PM
Hi All,

well I have just registered onto the forum after watching from afar for a bit and decided to take the plunge.

I operate a monitor wholesale company that was formed in October of last year specialising in reconditioned computer displays.

To cut a long story short I now operate out of a 6,000 square foot warehouse and employ 3 people fuull time. We supply clients accross UK and also in developing nations from Pakistan, Malasia, russia and romania and also to Sweden, Czech Republic and the US. Since October we have processed in excess of 11,000 monitors and have more orders than we know what to do with

Well why post here? to blow my own trumpet? unfortunately not, we seem to be hitting a cash flow issue

All the money has been pumped straight back into the company as is neccesary due to me starting with no initial finance, but now we are recieving orders for a few thousand monitors extra per month from a few different sources, I need funds to aid the expansion.

This is were I am looking for some advice... I dont really want to approach banks as have bad credit rating from past problems (Student....) and also at the age of 22 dont have a lot going to me in that way. I have looked into factoring, however from what I understnad you have to actually supply the goods to the other party first before you get the finance, which is fine but you still have to find the funds to make initial purchase which can be quite high as you can imagine

The only other thing I could think of was Business Angels or venture capitalists, sorry not sure which word is right but from what I understand they take a slice of the pie. Do you think this type of business would be of interest to them? and how would you go about contacting them?

Sorry if I have gone on a bit but look forward to your reply....

Ian J
10-04-2005, 07:01 PM
If you are buying monitors against firm customer orders from companies with reasonable credit ratings you may find that some sort of trade finance may be the most suitable for you. Have a look at my website on the trade finance (http://www.factoringsolutions.co.uk/trade_finance.htm) page here and if you think it may be suitable please feel free to contact me and we can discuss it in more detail without any obligation whatsoever.

Babylon
11-04-2005, 06:19 PM
Originally posted by cpucyc
Hi All,

This is were I am looking for some advice... I dont really want to approach banks as have bad credit rating from past problems (Student....) and also at the age of 22 dont have a lot going to me in that way. I have looked into factoring, however from what I understnad you have to actually supply the goods to the other party first before you get the finance, which is fine but you still have to find the funds to make initial purchase which can be quite high as you can imagine.

The only other thing I could think of was Business Angels or venture capitalists, sorry not sure which word is right but from what I understand they take a slice of the pie. Do you think this type of business would be of interest to them? and how would you go about contacting them?

Hi

You are doing well and needs to be proud of yourself for what you have achieved in a short time. Many people would be happy to be in your shoes rather than the other way around - which is waiting for an order to turn-up!

Anyway, I think what you need to do is to look at the whole working capital financing of your company than go down in any particular road such as a business angel capital. For example, we recently arranged funding for a company that had similar issues to what you have now. The working capital problem was resolved by using the following:

- Stock purchase finance
- Small firms loan (which is 75% guaranteed by the Government)
- Factoring

In the above instance the financing cost was significantly reduced compared to private angel capital. Also we didn't involve any high street banks in the deal.

Therefore, if you need help and some impartial advice and without obligation then please get in touch with me and I'll arrange one of my colleagues to contact you.

In the meantime, if you want to know more about 'working capital' finance please follow my signature link below.

Regards,