Collection of business news in the last week that affect credit.
31st March 2020.
James Salmon, Operations Director.
You are probably at home, digesting an endless stream of news. but we at CPA thought we would share the news stories we have seen in the last week that might affect our members and those who issue credit.
These are shared in case you missed them.
I’ve been collecting them since my last post, but not had a chance to use them in posts due to more pressing concerns.
I’ve realized i am never going to get to do that. So I thought I would just share my notes. I haven’t even really got time to edit and adust it. Some of the stories may have been overtaken in the rapidly moving news cycle, but here you go, here are the stories I have picked out that I thought would interest CPA’s members and visitors.
HMRC to manage job retention scheme
Chancellor Rishi Sunak has announced that the Government will pay the wages of employees unable to work due to the coronavirus pandemic, paying 80% of the salary of staff retained by their employer up to £2,500 a month.
The move, which covers gross pay, will be backdated to the start of March and last for three months. Mr Sunak said the coronavirus job retention scheme, which will be run by HMRC, would be extend the “if necessary”. Mr Sunak also announced that VAT payments will be deferred until the end of June, while self- assessment income tax payments for July 2020 are to be deferred for six months.
The Universal Credit standard allowance for the next 12 months has been increased by £1,000 a year, as has the Working Tax Credit basic element. The Chancellor said HMRC is working to ensure the first grants are available within weeks, with businesses able to apply for relief from Monday .
Coronavirus loan scheme ‘not fit for purpose’
The Government’s coronavirus business interruption loan scheme “is not fit for purpose”, economic analysis firm Fideres has warned, saying it fails to meet three basic criteria as it is not simple, fast or fair.
It argues that the scheme is “a time-consuming process” and leaves taxpayers, employees and business owners vulnerable while exposing firms to predatory lending practices. Fideres founding partner Alberto Thomas believes the current proposal “falls short of providing the reassurance that employees and businesses need.”
£1bn of dividends cancelled
Analysis shows that more than £1bn of shareholder payouts have been cancelled due to coronavirus. Just short of 30 companies have decided to suspend or scrap their dividends so far this year, with concern over the potential impact of the pandemic driving firms to hold onto funds.
Russ Mould, investment director at AJ Bell, said the dividend cuts would lead to an “income crisis which is going to hurt a lot of people”, with it noted that interest rates have been cut to a record low of 0.1%.
PwC warns of GDP decline
PwC has warned that the coronavirus could lead to a 7.8% fall in UK GDP this quarter.
Nick Forrest, head of PwC’s economics and policy arm, said recent projections are as weak as any he has seen and point to a “sharp” decline.
Noting that some commentators have warned a double-digit fall could be on the horizon, he adds: “The biggest drop quarter on quarter in the financial crisis was 2.1%, so this is a far sharper drop than we’ve experienced before.”
Mr Forrest estimates that GDP will slip by 4.7% in 2020, adding that there is evidence business investment has fallen by 30% – exceeding the 15% dip seen during the credit crunch
Firms turn to insolvency experts over coronavirus concerns
Insolvency trade body R3, which represents 800 restructuring firms including KPMG, EY, Grant Thornton and Deloitte, says members have received calls from hundreds of businesses – including restaurant groups, retailers and transport firms – due to concern over the coronavirus pandemic. It says the firms have been seeking advice on how to handle a possible restructuring as they face prolonged closures.
Small firms set to see £250k loans
Banks are set to pledge interest-free loans of up to £250,000 for small businesses, with it reported that Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s emergency coronavirus loans will initially take the form of overdrafts that could be available within 48 hours.
The Mail on Sunday says SMEs will be able to borrow a quarter of a million pounds from one of 40 lenders without having to secure the loan against assets. Small firms will be able to apply for loans of up to £5m under the Government’s business interruption loans programme, but these are expected to take longer to arrange and may need to be secured against assets.
Commenting on the rollout of the scheme, Mike Cherry, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, said: “Those responsible for deciding whether or not loans go ahead in the coming days need to recognise that, in a lot of cases, they’ll be deciding whether a small business survives or goes bust.”
Virus could leave 1m without jobs
Economists have warned that the Covid-19 outbreak could result in almost a million job losses in the UK, with the unemployment rate potentially set to jump from the current 3.9% to a figure closer to the 8% seen during the financial crisis.
John Philpott, an economist at the Jobs Economist consultancy, says that while a million job losses “looks virtually certain”, he fears that even some form of generous wage subsidy will do little to bring the total down, adding: “I fear that even a good policy response will face a mighty headwind.”
David Page, chief economist at AXA Investment Management, believes “a move towards 8% isn’t something you would rule out given the unprecedented nature of the shock.”
Capital Economics has revised down its estimate of the unemployment rate spiking to 6% following the Chancellor’s pledge that the Government will cover 80% of wages for staff who would face the sack without the measure
IFS: Sunak’s employment plan will cost taxpayer ‘billions a month’
Paul Johnson, director of the Institute for Fiscal Studies think-tank, says the employment support package announced by Chancellor Rishi Sunak will cost the taxpayer billions of pounds a month.
He said that while the cost of paying up to 80% of wages for employees who face losing their jobs during the coronavirus outbreak was “unknowable”, if the support is claimed for 10% of employees, it could cost the Government £10bn over three months.
Mr Johnson described Mr Sunak’s plan as “clearly a policy designed in haste”, warning that it will require “considerable speed and flexibility from HMRC to deliver”.
“As a result, there are obvious concerns about its design,” he adds
GDP faces 5% fall
Morgan Stanley has warned that GDP will fall by 5.1% this year following a deep recession in the first six months, adding that even if H2 is strong, the UK faces the worst recession in a century.
Capital Economics economist Andrew Wishart believes the UK deficit will widen to at least 8% of GDP in 2020/21, with tax receipts declining while the Government spends heavily on measures to support workers and businesses
Over half a million firms now in distress
The number of UK companies in financial distress has passed the half a million mark, according to Begbies Traynor, which expects the number to rise sharply in the third quarter of the year.
Julie Palmer, partner at Begbies, said there were 500,000 distressed companies even before coronavirus struck.
She added: “It’s a little bit like a war. When you’re at war, people come together and try to help. It’s when you’re emerging from that war that it’s dangerous for businesses
Support measures for small businesses
The Times’ James Hurley looks at the government’s package to help small businesses crippled by the coronavirus crisis. Any firm will be able to apply to HMRC to ask the government to cover 80% of the salary of retained workers, up to a total of £2,500 a month. But this will only be available from the beginning of May and there are concerns over whether HMRC will be able to cope.
Companies should be able to apply for emergency credit from the government-backed Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme from today with loans of up to £5m available interest-free for a year. The state will underwrite up to 80% of the risk on behalf of the lender, but borrowers remain liable for the full amount.
Small businesses in the retail, leisure or hospitality industry have grants available and there is a one-year holiday from business rates for the current tax year. Additionally, the next quarter of VAT payments will be deferred until the end of the year.
Covid-19 crisis could bring deep recession
The UK could face a recession worse than that of the 2008 financial crisis, according to KPMG, which predicts a contraction of 2.6% this year, assuming the coronavirus pandemic can be contained by the summer.
If it continues for longer the economy could crash by as much as 5.4%.
Yael Selfin, KPMG UK’s chief economist, said: “Until we know how and when the Covid-19 outbreak will end, the scale of the negative economic impact will be difficult to quantify. However, it is now almost certain that the UK is slipping into its first significant downturn in over a decade.”
HMRC support service struggles as callers line up
Enquiries from businesses and self-employed workers impacted by the coronavirus outbreak have overwhelmed staff handling HMRC’s Business Payment Support Service (BPSS) with callers having to wait up to an hour to get through and some being directed to the wrong department.
UHY Hacker Young research shows the 2,000 extra staff hired to answer calls has not been enough. John Sheehan, a partner at the firm, said: “Businesses are in urgent need of support, with many potentially teetering on the brink of insolvency due to coronavirus.
The government has done the right thing in making the BPSS central to dealing with this. But we have to get the logistics right. The BPSS will not have seen this volume of calls since the financial crisis of 2008.”
Chancellor under pressure to save the self-employed
The Chancellor Rishi Sunak is under further pressure to help self-employed people since Boris Johnson’s crackdown as many fear the new restrictions will prevent them from earning an income.
Mr Sunak has already been accused of leaving the self-employed behind with the support measures he introduced last week.
Labour MP Rachel Reeves, chairman of the Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy Committee, said the 5m workers are essential to the British economy and will still have bills to pay during the crisis.
She said: “The government has rightly prioritised income replacement for employees. This now needs to be extended to the self-employed and freelancers.” The Times reports that Mr Sunak is expected to announce measures at the end of the week as officials work to overcome significant “technical barriers”.
SMEs struggle to access financial support
Small companies whose trade has been damaged by the coronavirus pandemic have been struggling to get in touch with banks as they seek access to more than £1.2bn of government-backed credit, the Times reports.
UK Finance urged customers to try to make contact through lenders’ websites instead of calling as many staff are absent because of the crisis.
Meanwhile, Keith Morgan, chief executive officer of the British Business Bank, has said help for small firms to cope with the coronavirus will soon be available, stating: “The money will start to flow this week… We have had close interactions with major lenders and they are entirely committed to making this happen.”
Finally, the Mail reports that councils, which are charged with handing out grants of £10,000 to £25,000 to the businesses who do not benefit from the government’s one-year business rates holiday, have not yet been provided with details of the scheme.
Retail, hospitality and leisure firms given rent reprieve
The government has provided thousands of retail, hospitality and leisure firms with the opportunity to suspend rent payments to landlords for at least three months.
Landlords will be banned from evicting commercial tenants during the period as ministers increase measures to protect businesses during the coronavirus crisis.
Kate Nicholls, chief executive of UKHospitality, which represents hundreds of restaurants and pubs, said: “With the next pending rent day falling this Wednesday, this move by the Government is hugely welcome and will help to protect jobs across the sector.”
COVID-19 crash to be worse than 2008
The coronavirus crisis will damage the global economy more than the 2008 financial crisis, the OECD and the IMF said yesterday.
IMF boss Kristalina Georgieva called for countries to “undertake more bold fiscal actions” adding that she hoped the world would see a recovery in 2021.
Separately, analysts at Goldman Sachs predict that the slowdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic will cause the global economy to shrink by 1% this year.
Meanwhile, UBS economist expect Europe’s economy to shrink by 4.5% this year, similar to 2008.
Coronavirus hits UK job security and spending plans
Data firm IHS Markit’s household finance index has revealed that Britons plan to reduce spending on major purchases at the fastest rate in eight years, as concerns about employment prospects grow in response to the pandemic.
With the IHS Markit household finance index falling to 42.5 in March from 47.6 in February a month earlier, economist Joe Hayes commented: “UK consumers are already feeling the financial pinch of coronavirus,” noting that “major purchases are being shunned in response to the worsening outlook for financial wellbeing.”
Businesses to be given an additional 3 months to file accounts
A joint initiative between the government and Companies House means that businesses will from today be able to apply for an additional 3 months to file accounts.
The move is designed to help companies avoid penalties as they deal with the impact of COVID-19. As part of the agreed measures, those citing issues around COVID-19 will be automatically and immediately granted an extension.
Applications can be made through a fast-tracked online system which will take just 15 minutes to complete.
Head of Corporate Governance, Institute of Directors, Roger Barker said: “These measures will be welcomed by directors impacted by COVID-19. Our members will be pleased to see government taking proactive steps to support them through this difficult time. By easing the administrative burden that comes with running a business, the government is supporting businesses to focus on the fundamentals during this exceptional period.
COVID-19 loan scheme welcomed, but criteria questioned
The government’s support scheme for small businesses launched yesterday but there was dismay over rules permitting banks to refuse emergency lending to businesses that were loss-making.
The Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) is designed to help smaller companies hit by the COVID-19 outbreak and loans of up to £5m are available to companies with a turnover of £45m or less.
But a provision that means lenders must assess whether businesses are viable means that banks are likely to turn down loss-making firms.
Simon Menashy, a partner at MMC Ventures, said the criteria needs to change urgently. Loan terms will be up to six years for term loans and asset finance facilities.
For overdrafts and invoice finance facilities, terms will be up to three years. Enterprise Nation welcomed the measures but voiced concern over how funds can reach small businesses in time.
IHS Markit index reveals UK businesses badly affected by virus
The recently-announced shutdown measures in the UK are sending businesses into the biggest slump in recent times, with IHS Markit’s monthly measure of manufacturing and services activity falling to the lowest level in some 22 years.
Chief business economist Chris Williamson notes: “Any growth was confined to small pockets of the economy such as food manufacturing, pharmaceuticals and healthcare.”
Meanwhile, academics claim that if GDP falls by more than 6.4% then the loss of life from a recession would be greater than life gained through fighting the coronavirus.
UK eyes insolvency law reforms
The BEIS is looking to rapidly reform insolvency rules so businesses unable to meet debts due to the impact of coronavirus are not automatically forced to file for bankruptcy.
The Institute of Directors has called for a moratorium on the offence of wrongful trading and a temporary suspension of the ability of creditors to present winding-up petitions.
Jonathan Geldart, its director-general, said: “Directors are facing unprecedented challenges and need to see urgent temporary measures to avert entirely preventable corporate collapses. We’re calling on government to prioritise jobs and business survival by relaxing existing insolvency obligations put on directors. We should not allow a single viable business to go to the wall.”
Sunak to reveal package for self-employed workers
The chancellor Rishi Sunak will today announce a scheme to compensate over 2m self-employed workers whose income has been decimated by the coronavirus outbreak.
The prime minister Boris Johnson yesterday pledged to give the self-employed “parity of support” with those who are employed, although a spokesman later clarified that this does not mean they would get the same deal.
The Telegraph suggests fraud checks could be conducted by HMRC due to the “complex” nature of different types of self-employment which could leave the scheme open to abuse. Meanwhile, nearly half a million people have registered universal credit claims in the last nine days after losing their jobs or seeing a drop in wages due to the coronavirus crisis
Unemployment rate to hit 6% but 900,000 jobs will be saved
Capital Economics predicts that 700,000 jobs could be lost should the UK economy shrink by 15% in the three months to June due to the coronavirus crisis. However, the measures taken by the government will have saved 900,000 jobs.
Banks told to do more to help struggling companies
The Chancellor, the governor of the Bank of England and the CEO of the Financial Conduct Authority have written to banks in the UK urging them to do more to save struggling businesses from collapse.
Rishi Sunak, Andrew Bailey and Chris Woolard also told lenders not to damage customers’ credit ratings if they exceeded overdraft limits or missed loan repayments.
The letter was an intervention welcomed by Mike Cherry, chairman of the Federation of Small Business, who said businesses had been telling the FSB that banks had not been as cooperative as they should be.
Banks are also under pressure to revisit the terms of emergency coronavirus loans after lenders including Barclays and HSBC were reportedly asking some directors to sign personal guarantees, as well as to pledge business assets as security.
Royal Bank of Scotland has pledged to not ask for personal guarantees to secure the loans.
Falling petrol prices push inflation down
The collapse in global oil prices, resulting in steep falls in the price of petrol and diesel at the pumps, combined with a 0.5% fall in costs for manufacturers, has seen inflation in the UK fall from 1.8% in January to 1.7% last month.
Samuel Tombs, of Pantheon Macroeconomics, predicts a drop to well below 1% over the summer.
Howard Archer, chief economic adviser at EY Item Club, added: “The recent plunge in oil prices to a 16-year low will bring inflation down, along with sharply weakened economic activity in the near term at least.”
Sunak reveals financial support package for self-employed
The Chancellor has announced that self-employed workers can apply for a grant worth 80% of their average monthly profits – up to a maximum of £2,500 a month – to help them cope with the financial impact of coronavirus.
Rishi Sunak said the cash will be paid in a single lump sum, but will not begin to arrive until the start of June at the earliest, due to the complexity of the scheme.
The Chancellor has been warned the delay could see millions left unemployed. The scheme will only be open to those with trading profits of up to £50,000 a year, covering 95% of those who earn the majority of their money from self-employment.
Mr Sunak said that the 5% who are not covered by the scheme will have an average income of about £200,000 a year.
Self-employed to pay more tax after state bailout
Rishi Sunak has warned that the tax treatment of the self-employed would have to change when the COVID-19 crisis is over.
After announcing the coronavirus support package for contractors the Chancellor said: “I must be honest and say that in devising this scheme in response to many calls for support, it is now much harder to justify the inconsistent contribution between people of different employment statuses.
If we all want to benefit equally from state support, we must all pay in equally in future.”
Mike Cherry, the national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, praised the “hugely ambitious” package but said: “Now is not the time to be talking about major long-term structural reform of the tax system.”
But the Resolution Foundation put the cost of the latest support scheme at £10bn and said a review of the tax disparity was “long overdue”.
UK banks pressured to relax bailout loans rules
The government has chided banks for requiring borrowers to provide personal guarantees in order to access new emergency loans backed by the state with Downing Street declaring that no lender was allowed to “take a guarantee against the borrower’s home … We will take all action necessary to ensure that the benefits of the measures are passed on.”
But one banker said, “the scheme design obliges us to follow normal credit procedures. They need to rethink it.” Yesterday, Barclays, Royal Bank of Scotland, Lloyds Banking Group, Virgin Money and HSBC said they would not ask customers for personal guarantees on loans up to £250,000, but larger loans could require security which may include personal guarantees.
Meanwhile, the Chancellor has promised a “workaround” for businesses too small to have an investment grade rating and too big to qualify for the SME-focused scheme
Small business alarm drives steep fall in employer confidence
The latest jobs report from KPMG and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) shows small businesses are most concerned about the economy as the coronavirus crisis rumbles on.
A fall in sentiment among small businesses drove employer confidence down 22 percentage points in March to a net figure of -23%.
Neil Carberry, REC chief executive, said: “It’s no surprise that this global pandemic has caused the UK’s labour market to stall…When the storm passes we will bounce back, and quickly.”
Banks call for freeze on UK housing market
Government ministers are in talks with banks about instituting a full suspension of the housing market after ministers told buyers and sellers to delay transactions because of the coronavirus outbreak.
Industry group UK Finance said it had been seeking “urgent clarification from the Government about whether home purchases should continue at the current time, particularly as physical property valuations are no longer possible.”
Additionally, UK Finance announced that banks would grant homebuyers who have exchanged contracts the option of the three-month extension to their mortgage offer.
Bank of England warns of ‘very sharp’ economic downturn
The Bank of England warned on Thursday that the UK economy would suffer “a very sharp reduction in activity” as the coronavirus outbreak forces businesses to close and sharply reduces consumer spending.
Leaving interest rates on hold at the lowest levels in its 325-year history, the Bank said long-term damage to employment and growth was likely as the government steps up its efforts to contain the disease.
The Monetary Policy Committee pledged to take whatever steps necessary to prevent disorderly financial markets amplifying the downturn as it warned of longer-term damage to the economy.
The bank also published its business condition report, in which the economic situation was described by many of its regional agents as “being worse than the financial crisis in 2008”.
Consumer confidence in UK plunges
Consumer sentiment dropped 29 points to minus 26 between December last year and this March, the sharpest quarterly fall in more than 10 years, according to a survey by PwC.
However it is higher than the minus 51 recorded in October 2008, indicating that stimulus measures are paying off. Lisa Hooker, Consumer Markets leader at PwC, said: “Despite the magnitude of the challenges facing the country, government intervention in the past week does seem to have cushioned the blow for many families […] The question is whether this will be enough to hold up consumer sentiment should the current lockdown measures last longer than expected.”
IFS predicts £200bn deficit
New analysis from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) project that the national deficit could rise to £200bn or more next year – far higher than the £158bn seen in 2009 and four times the amount forecast by the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) two weeks ago.
Shake-up of insolvency laws imminent
The government is expected to issue revised insolvency rules this weekend to prevent a slew of company collapses as the coronavirus crisis tears the economy apart. Sources said UK laws could be brought in line with US chapter 11 bankruptcy rules, which enable firms time to pay off their debts over time while remaining in business.
Alok Sharma, the business secretary, is expected to amend “wrongful trading” rules, which make it a criminal offence for a company director to keep on trading if they know the business is unable to repay its debts.
Roger Barker, head of corporate governance at the Institute of Directors, which has been pushing for changes, said: “A lot of companies will want to carry on and to maintain employment, take out emergency loans with government backing.
But if at some future point they could be held personally liable for not putting their firms into insolvency, that may cause them not to carry on. at the current time of emergency we need as many companies as possible to keep going, providing employment and providing goods and services to keep the economy going.”
UK to change insolvency rules to protect businesses
The UK government has confirmed that it is to change insolvency rules so businesses unable to meet debts due to the impact of coronavirus are not forced to file for bankruptcy.
Business Secretary Alok Sharma said the suspension of the rules would allow companies to “emerge intact the other side of the COVID-19 pandemic”.
Mr Sharma added that the wrongful trading law would also be temporarily lifted so company directors would not be personally liable for their decisions during the pandemic.
Although business groups welcomed the move, R3, the trade association for the UK’s insolvency industry, believes the rule change could be open to abuse.
Mr Sharma also announced that red tape would be removed to allow new producers of hand sanitiser to bring products to market “in a matter of days”.
Unemployment in Britain set to double
The coronavirus pandemic could lead to a doubling of unemployment at least, economists have warned, with the rise in joblessness in the second quarter expected to be even sharper than during the financial crisis in 2008.
Investment bank Nomura forecasts a rise to 8.5% in Q3, equivalent to an additional 1.4m people unemployed and a total jobless level of 2.75m.
Pubs and restaurants under pressure before COVID-19 hit
A study by UHY Hacker Young found the number of restaurant insolvencies jumped by 10% last year, while the number of pub insolvencies also increased by 10%. Many more insolvencies are likely as a result of the coronavirus shutdown, the firm reports.
Peter Kubik, of UHY Hacker Young, said: “Both the pub and restaurant industry feel they need more specific assistance from the Government.” The warning comes as chains such as Carluccio’s and Byron hire insolvency experts to advise on next moves.
Deep pain to be followed by rapid bounce back
The Centre for Economics and Business Research (CEBR) is predicting a 15% drop in GDP between April and June as the UK reels from the coronavirus crisis.
Unemployment is expected to rise to 7% in July to August, from 3.9% in the three months to January. The CEBR also thinks house prices will fall by an average of 13% in the year to next March.
However, it believes there will be “a sharp bounce back in the third and fourth quarter of the year” because of the measures put in place by Chancellor Rishi Sunak, leaving the economy down 4% for the year overall.
BrightHouse and Carluccio’s enter administration
Carluccio’s has fallen into administration, blaming “challenging trading conditions” exacerbated by the coronavirus.
Administrator FRP is “urgently looking at options” for the future of the Italian restaurant chain, including mothballing the business using government support, as well as trying to sell all or parts of it. It also confirmed that most of the company’s 2,000 employees will be paid through the Government’s job retention scheme while these options are explored.
Meanwhile, rent-to-own retailer BrightHouse has also collapsed into administration, putting 2,400 jobs at risk.
Grant Thornton says BrightHouse will not be making new rent-to-own or cash loan deals but added that existing clients should continue to make payments in the usual way.
Considering the collapse of BrightHouse and Carluccio’s, Julie Palmer of Begbies Traynor said: “Coronavirus was the final nail in the coffin”.
A fifth of SMEs may fold
A report from Be the Business and research firm Opinium suggests one in five SMEs may have to close down permanently because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
A poll of 500 businesses shows that 7% of small businesses have stopped trading, while a further 12% of respondents are likely to close within a month.
Almost a quarter of respondents had made or were planning to make redundancies, while almost 40% expect to close temporarily because of coronavirus.
Tony Danker, chief executive of Be the Business, said: “Coronavirus has impacted almost every business in the country and many are finding it difficult to know what to do next.” He added: “Businesses owners we’ve spoken to aren’t just concerned about the financial implications. They are also focusing on the wellbeing of their employees who have been furloughed or are having to work in completely new ways.”
James Endersby, chief executive of Opinium, said the coronavirus crisis has forced many businesses into “uncharted territory”, adding: “It’s an unbelievably challenging time for so many, and the Government measures to support businesses are clearly much needed.”
52% of Britons expect recession within 12 months
A poll from YouGov shows that 52% of Britons expect the economy to fall into recession within a year due to the coronavirus outbreak. A fifth expect a depression, while just 1% expect the economy to be booming within 12 months.
Oliver Rowe, director of reputation research at YouGov, comments: “With unprecedented Government measures to crackdown on the spread of COVID-19 shutting small and large businesses across the country and confining Britons to their homes, it’s unsurprising that consumer confidence has been knocked.”
Meanwhile, YouGov’s tracker of consumer confidence has fallen 4.2 points to 103.3, the biggest monthly decline since that seen following the Brexit referendum in 2016. It said the gauge of how households feel about their finances over the coming year fell by more than any previous month on record, slipping 9.9 points to 93.
Elsewhere, the Centre for Economics and Business Research has predicted that the coronavirus pandemic will cause UK output to slip 15% in Q2.
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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