Pier 3 Condo

Its official the British Nation is now in financial recession and businesses need to have a robust map to navigate this economic downturn or they are destined to go out of business.

Tough trading over Christmas and the New Year period has seen an unprecedented number of high street retails go into administration or liquidation.

The following stores and Companies, to name a few, have gone into administration. Wedgewood the fine China and tableware manufacturer has gone along with Savvi, USC the Fashion store and MFI the furniture retailer.

Possible one of the most high profile causalities of the economic collapse has been woolworths that went into liquidation in December 2007 and finally closed all retail outlets in January which has put 27,000 out of work.

A business owner should be thinking how can I survive this economic downturn? The Turnaround Management Association says that for a business to achieve a successful turnaround it needs four things; a credible management team, a viable business core, a valid business plan and appropriate funding.

Traditional sources of finance have been restricted to very low levels due to the Credit Crunch and lack of liquidity within the money markets. This constriction of lending has brought about a Cash Flow squeeze on UK plc.

Company Directors with an eye on survival should immediately have a plan to reduce expenditure within the business. Carefully review expenditure to identify any areas of your business where savings can be made. Meticulously going over the Companies expense to find areas where costs can be cut. You should look at Telephone Charges and Tariffs, Utilities, Trade Suppliers, transport costs. The build up of a number of cost saving can be remarkable.

Business owners interested in surviving a recession should look for alternative and appropriate sources of finance. The old clich of cash is king has never been more important than at the present time, although most businesses nowadays rely on some form of third party funding whether it be bank overdraft or business loans. Now may be the time to consider alternative sources of funding such as invoice factoring, which is increasingly popular for small to medium businesses. While not suitable for all businesses, the huge benefit of invoice factoring is that rather than have money tied up in invoices that are yet to be paid, you can receive an initial payment up front, typically 80% – 85% of the gross value, and the remainder when the customer pays the invoices to an invoice finance provider, less the service fee which has been negotiated with them. However, if the customer defaults on payment, then the finance company will recover the money provided to you initially from any further invoices which are factored. This can lead to erratic cash flow if customers are poor payers or they go into insolvency.