Figures show decline in exports to Europe and other business news
28th October 2019.
James Salmon, Operations Director.
We cover the decline in exports, the latest on GRG, small business lending, failing bank IT systems, retail CVAs, HMRC targeting unpaid taxes, immigration and apprenticeships.
Figures show decline in exports to Europe
Exports to Europe from Britain have fallen for the first time since 2015 this year, suggesting that Brexit has already caused “notable disruption”, according to a new study from BDO.
The UK’s exports fell by 3.3% between Q1 and Q2 and BDO believes a marked recovery by the end of 2019 is unlikely.
Germany experienced an even more significant contraction of exports.
BDO’s Peter Hemington commented: “European export growth is on the brink of contraction, having experienced another challenging quarter, and worse is still to come as car sales stall and industrial production levels limp across Europe.”
Th news follows Fridays report that UK exports are falling amid global slowdown
In other business news
GRG chief in court over small business seizures
Derek Sach, the former boss of restructuring for Royal Bank of Scotland, is to appear in court today to answer claims that the Government pressured the bank’s Global Restructuring Group to seize small businesses which had taken loans from the bank so it could sell their assets to boost profits.
The case is brought by property developer Oliver Morley who claims senior staff at the bank’s GRG unit were awarded bonuses based on targets set by an arm of the Treasury.
FCA chief wants scrutiny of small business lending
There is a strong case for small business lending to be made a regulated activity, Andrew Bailey has said.
The government has rejected calls from MPs and business owners to change the law after the GRG and other lending scandals, but he CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority said there needed to be a “serious assessment of the pros and cons” of bringing lending to smaller companies under the remit of the City regulator. Mr Bailey is interviewed in the Times on page 39.
IT failings left customers “cashless and cutoff”
MPs on the Treasury select committee have called for levies on big banks to pay for better regulation of their IT systems.
Steve Baker, who led the Treasury committee inquiry, said: “The number of IT failures that have occurred in the financial services sector, including TSB, Visa and Barclays, and the harm caused to consumers is unacceptable.
For too long, financial institutions issue hollow words after their systems have failed, which is of no help to customers left cashless and cutoff.”
Mike Cherry, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, called the report a “wake-up call for the banks to get their house in order. Any outages have a profound negative impact on small business customers, directly preventing them from trading.”
CVAs: the go-to remedy for struggling retailers
Alan Meek, head of corporate insolvency and restructuring at law firm Morton Fraser, discusses in the Scotsman the pros and cons for retailers carrying out company voluntary arrangements (CVAs).
He says the attraction of CVAs to retailers is that it allows all landlords to be dealt with at the same time and avoids the potential risk of only partial “buy-in”.
He also notes that landlords have become more amenable to accepting the principle of CVAs but have simultaneously become more nuanced about their responses to CVAs. He explains that landlords are far more likely to engage with the proposing management and seek to have the proposals amended to more closely meet the requirements and (hopefully) realistic objections of landlords.
Where agreement cannot be reached, Meek notes, landlords are now clearly prepared to challenge CVAs in court.
Finance and tech firms targeted to net £9.8bn in unpaid tax
HMRC collected £9.8bn in extra revenue through tax probes into the UK’s largest businesses last year, up 12% from £8.7bn from the previous period.
Analysis published by Pinsent Masons showed that the largest proportion of this was £6bn from tax investigations into VAT and £2.6bn in underpaid corporation tax.
Major tech and finance businesses were the chief target of HMRC.
Stuart Walsh of Pinsents, said: “Bigger UK and foreign businesses are going to find themselves under continued scrutiny from HMRC over the next year. The new government’s spending pledges mean HMRC and the treasury will be under pressure to raise more money.”
Immigration restrictions a pressing concern for financial firms
Almost two thirds of financial services firms are reviewing the travel and working arrangements of staff between Britain and the EU, according to EY.
Fears over immigration rules continue to weigh on companies and EY suggests firms finalise immigration plans for all scenarios this week.
John Liver, financial services partner at EY, said that firms still needed to prepare for a no-deal Brexit “while it remains the default position”.
Apprenticeship levy hampering SME training schemes
The Learning and Work Institute has warned that the Government’s apprenticeship levy could actually be contributing to 75,000 fewer training schemes being provided by SMEs.
The employment and skills charity found that three-quarters of apprenticeship providers which worked with small businesses reported that there was insufficient funding to meet demand, “with many being forced to reduce or cease recruitment as a result”.
The shortfall is due to large employers using more of their levy funds than expected, leaving only half as much money as was thought to help smaller companies to train workers.
Do you sell on credit to exporters?
With pressures on the cash flow it is essential that you stay on top of the credit limits you grant customers exposed to the export market and watch carefully for any late payments.
Those customers will look for the easiest option to boost their cash-flow. Don’t let it be you.
You can’t just assume your customers can and will pay you eventually, no matter how big their name is.
It is essential to have credit management systems in place to monitor and check your customers credit worthiness.
It is also best practice to use a trusted third party like CPA to make sure you are paid on time by customers, no matter how good a name they have.
About CPA
The Credit Protection Association can help!
Formed in 1914, CPA has been providing credit management services to SMEs for over 100 years.
At the Credit Protection Association, we provide first class credit information that can help you avoid being over extended to customers who are at risk. Our monitoring service can flag up warning signs long before the end, giving you the chance to adjust and reduce your exposure. We provide recommended credit limits and credit scores on a traffic light system and can help you set appropriate credit policies for your customers.
We regularly publish lists of the latest insolvencies but by then it is too late. Our credit reports however predict approximately 96% of company insolvencies long before they arrive.
Companies in trouble usually have very bad cash flow and they try to deal with it by delaying payment to their suppliers, increasing your exposure to them.
If you supply on credit, help us help you identify the risks.
Why use a third party collector?
As a third party collector, we can also get your payments prioritised over those who are not as hot on collections. When you customer receives a letter from the Credit Protection Association regarding their outstanding account, they are going to want to get that resolved as a priority. Our overdue account recovery service can get your unpaid invoices to the top of their “to do” list and get your invoice paid.
Over the years we have collected billions in overdue invoices for our customers.
Our debt recovery and credit management services give our members the financial freedom needed to grow and prosper, while our new Late Payment Compensation department could unlock hidden potential and offer the compensation needed to springboard your business to success.
The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections
Ready to speak to an advisor?
For help or advice on credit management, entirely without obligation.
Call us today
0330 053 9263
CPA is passionate about late payment
The Credit Protection Association has been protecting smaller firms against poor payment practices for over 100 years.
We are extremely passionate about breaking the late payment culture that holds back the UK economy and threatens many SMEs with cash flow difficulties being the single biggest killer of Britain’s small businesses.
If you were regularly paid late we can help. Those former customers used you to boost their own cashflow, regularly paying you late.
As a result you had extra costs, you had the distraction of having to chase payment, you had opportunity costs because your capital was tied up in their late invoices.
Under little used legislation, you are entitled to compensation for those late payments.
Now you can boost your own cash-flow.
CPA can help unearth the those hidden treasures.
We have the technology to reveal the compensation you are due and we have the extensive experience and expertise to then turn those claims into cash.
Yes, CPA can help you boost your business cash-flow.
Don’t let your bankers control you, contact CPA today.
The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections
Do you realise you could be sitting on a fortune?
Late payments often result in a cash flow crunch and leave SMEs in need of a cash injection.
If you sold B2B on credit then there may be a hidden source of capital you can call on.
If you fancy an bit of extra cash in your business, rather than jumping through hoops with your bank, you could look to uncover the resources from an unexpected source within your own business.
Not many are aware but there could be a hidden fortune within your business, sitting there, just waiting to be uncovered and released.
We can help you uncover the pile of gold, you didn’t even know you were sitting on.
If you trade with other businesses and were often paid late then you could be entitled to significant compensation.
Under little known and under-utilised legislation your business could be due huge amounts in compensation that you didn’t even know about.
Let’s be clear – this is not a way to weaken any customer relationships you value. It is one that identifies who’s been paying late and then recover the potentially significant sums in compensation using Late Payment Legislation from businesses where the relationship has already ended.
You can pick and choose who you want us to follow up – but once we’ve agreed which companies you’d like to pursue compensation from it’s a fast process and there’s no financial outlay to you whatsoever. My team at CPA put its expertise to work to recover the compensation due and fight late payment culture.
That compensation could provide the cash boost your business needed.
But don’t delay, that compensation evaporates if not claimed within six years of the late payment.
How can CPA help?
CPA has developed a unique technology to dig into your accounting records and discover the cash injection you are due by means of compensation. The software does all the hard work. Our software interacts over the cloud with over 300 different software packages, working directly with your accounts package, just so long as it’s stored on a computer.
We recognise that most companies do not have the resources to spend time on the identification and calculation of Late Payment Compensation. Our service can produce an Analyses within just a few days with (usually) less than 30 mins of co-operation from our clients. We work directly with over 300 accounting packages but can also work with bespoke accounts packages. Indeed, speed is essential as the oldest invoices may fall foul of the 6-year time limit.
Once the Sales Ledger Analyses is made available to clients, all that is required is that management decide which commercially sensitive ex-customers to remove from the list and return it to us.
CPA then uses its years of collection experience to explain and recover the Late Payment Compensation Claims. Clients do not handle any part of the recovery process as our team will take all communications from the companies against who the claims has been made. Often, it’s simply a case of explaining the legislation, sometimes we have to go all the way and enforce the legislation through the courts.
The result is that we are realising clients’ claims worth tens and sometimes hundreds of thousands of pounds which, of course, is pure net profit. You may also be among the recipients of “hundreds of thousands of pounds” should you elect to take advantage of our services.
We do the work, you receive the cash.
If you have supplied goods and services to businesses on credit and were regularly paid late then you could be due significant sums in late payment compensation.
We are talking to companies and unearthing claims in the hundreds of thousands from former business customers who paid them late. Large business customers who abused their power to inflict unfair and sometimes illegal payment practices.
We are helping business owners who are looking to boost the returns from their business before they retire. We are helping businesses who have lost major clients after years of loyal service to get properly compensated for systematic late payment. We are helping companies that were looking to close down, who looked insolvent and finding that cash injection they need to avoid insolvency.
Those former clients who regularly paid you late can finally be made to pay.
Ready to speak to an advisor?
For help or advice on credit management, entirely without obligation.
Call us today
0330 053 9263
The Credit Protection Association is a credit management company established in 1914. If you supply goods or services on credit then we can help you!
The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections
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The Credit Protection Association – Prompting Punctual Payments – Ethical, Effective, Efficient, Economical collections