Apr 28

Spring Newsletter

Posted: 28 April 2016 by admin

Hi all, Hope you’re well and enjoying this early summer weather – not sure how long it will last!

Further to our communication at the end of last year, time appears to have flown by and 2016 has certainly started with a bang for Affinity. Having spent time with all our introducers and numerous customers the general outlook is positive, which is certainly supported by the amount of opportunities we are engaged in.

We speak daily with Owners/ Directors across a broad spectrum of sectors and the majority are making key decisions to purchase machinery or equipment to help their business grow. More contracts appear to be available and won at a local level which is good news for our own Midlands economy. Although it is almost 10 years now since the most recent recession (which seems like only yesterday) the high street banks remain very restrictive on the types of businesses they will support and at what level.

We remain as committed and focussed as ever to maintaing a strong relationship with our clients and ensuring they receive the best possible offer at all times. We can boast over 20 funders now on our panel (and growing) who are also as driven to provide competitive packages in a swift and efficient manner.

Relevant Budget Highlights

  • **The enhanced 100% Capital Allowances for expenditure by businesses on qualifying plant & machinery has been extended for a further 3 years until April 2020.**
  • Company car benefit in kind rates will increase by 3% to a maximum 37% in April 2019.
  • The company van benefit in kind charge for zero emissions vans has been confirmed as 20% for 2016/17 and 2017/18.

Review your Invoice Finance facility

As well as being experts in Asset Finance for many years, Affinity Asset Finance work with many clients across the country in all different sectors reviewing and implementing a range of commercial funding solutions. These look to support business growth, acquisitions and facilitate every type of funding required by SME’s and Corporate businesses today. Invoice Finance (Factoring/Invoice Discounting) has seen a significant expansion area for Affinity and to date we have secured a number of flexible and competitive solutions to meet our clients demanding needs. We would welcome the opportunity to look at any requirement of this nature for you or your clients so please do not hesitate to contact us. 

Deal Summary

East Midlands business looks to move existing asset finance agreements into a new business…

An existing client of ours has been in dispute with HMRC over disallowed claims which are currently going through a legal resolution process. As a result, the clients business advisors and accountant instructed us to move the existing finance agreements into the new company as they were essential to operations and manufacturing. We assessed the most competitive options and by using one of their extensive panel of funders we were able to settle exiting finance agreements in the old company and move them across into the new company without impacting on operations.

Refurbished Industrial crushing machine funded when the Bank says no…

An established national processing business asked their bank to secure funding on a refurbished crushing machine. As it was refurbished there was no clear year of manufacture and some components had been changed and upgraded over time – as would be expected. As a result of this insignificant detail their Bank declined to support the funding as they deemed it ‘too risky’. With Affinity’s pragmatic approach we secured a competitive funding package and our funders ignored the negatives and focused on the positives – this equipment still had a value and that the clients business was profitable. The funding completed and the machine is now processing and adding value to the clients processing facilities.

Nottinghamshire based wood merchant expands with new contract…

We have known this business since it started in 2009 and have watched it’s steady growth, including expansion into new premises. Due to a recently confirmed contract they needed to increase output and efficiencies within their process allowing them to dry logs more quickly and in larger amounts. 

As a result they need to upgrade their existing kiln with new technology which provides an increased airflow rate, therefore increasing drying time and larger output of product. There was a clear rationale for the purchase and backed up by a contract we worked swiftly to put the relevant facility in place. The overall solution was approved within 24 hours and structured with a low deposit and 5 year term. The customer now has a new and improved kiln to support the new contract with capacity to hopefully gain more. They were delighted with our offering and are even considering the next kiln purchase!

With such a strong start to the new financial year, all at Affinity Asset Finance are sure this year will be yet another record breaker and look forward to welcoming new clients and introducers alike throughout the year.