finance solutions

Many Canadian business owners and financial managers are under the impression that equipment leasing and financing solutions for their asset finance needs are more expensive than other forms of financing.

However, at the same time thousands of businesses everyday flock to the lease finance solution when they are acquiring equipment. How can a finance solution perceived as ‘ expensive ‘ be one of the most sought after business financing facilities day after day.

It’s because it’s all about the benefits and flexibility. In pure theory if you were paying full price cash or entering into a term loan you could make a technical financial case that lease financing is more expensive.

But it’s never always about price in your personal life, and that’s certainly the case in business. The reality is that the additional benefits of a lease often over weigh any concerns about cost or interest rates. And quite frankly with interest rates at all time lows in Canada companies with fairly decent credit profiles can get equipment financing in the 7-8% range. And, on top of that, if your company doesn’t have a pristine credit profile you still can get approved because Canadian equipment and leasing and financing professions are experts in asset finance, and a lot of emphasis is placed on your company prospects and the asset itself.

Accounting isn’t one of our favorite subjects when clients ask us for leasing assistance, but the reality is the when you use lease finance effectively – for example operating leases, then you are in a position to increase overall return on assets and your banker or other senior lender isn’t overly concerned about that always omnipresent debt to equity ratio he or she is talking about.

When clients talk to us about leasing we can talk about ten or 15 different issues – but to be honest they only often have one – can we get approval for a rate, term and structure that makes sense for our firm? That’s the essential question more often than not. And that’s more often when lease finance steps up to the bar! Lessors take, on balance greater credit risk than financial institutions, and in our words, they are more likely to ‘ buy into your story ‘ – whether that be a turnaround year, a new project coming up, etc.

Lease decisions from your point of view are often driven by the simple question – can the acquisition of this asset grow sales and profits. Asset finance firms understand that and they essentially become your business partner with the additional capital they put into your equipment financing needs. You on the other hand can use that additional cash flow and working capital for general operating purposes. You have matched long term debt – i.e. the lease, with long term capital – your lease finance strategy.

If you’re starting up a business, it can be hard to grasp the terminology you need in order to speak to your bank about funds; when it comes to discussing asset and sales finance, for instance, things can get tricky. It is, firstly, important to know what asset and sales finance is: a service through which banks help businesses obtain a range of equipment, including plant and machinery, commercial vehicles, IT equipment, office furniture and cars. Essentially, sales financing will help you get quick access to cash, while asset financing will help fund business equipment.

Many banks offer several cost-effective and expedient sales financing solutions; and with such solutions, businesses can find enough working capital to be able to operate. Two sales financing solutions are factoring and invoice discounting. With factoring (recourse and non-recourse),up to 95% of the value of approved invoices can be advanced within a given period of time with the balance being paid on receipt. And while invoice discounting (also recourse and non-recourse) functions in a similar way, there is a crucial difference between the two: in factoring, the client’s customers are made aware of the bank’s involvement with the business; in invoice discounting they are not.

Another method of sales financing used by many banks is stock finance; this allows you to release as much as 60% of the funds tied up in eligible stock through a completely flexible system. This will release finance that is usually not available for working capital needs.

Asset financing solutions will help you gain assets in an economical way, without eating into your cash reserves. As with sales financing, banks will often offer a range of asset finance solutions to its business customers. Hire Purchase, for example, can help you acquire the asset you need right away, but payments can be spread across the life of the asset in question. This may also allow you to keep the asset at the end of your term for a particular fee. Operating Lease asset finance will allow you to benefit from a particular asset, while the bank itself takes on the risk of losing its value; the rental and return conditions for the asset are fixed at the outset.

Many banks will offer a variety of asset finance products that cover the needs of a wide range of businesses, be they technological or agricultural. Barclays Asset and Sales Finance [http://www.business.barclays.co.uk/BRC1/jsp/brccontrol?site=bbb&task=channelFWgroup&value=7148], for instance, offer a Technology Lease asset finance product to help finance your technology needs, as well as an Agricultural Lease, which offers finance to buy machinery, vehicles and land, as well as many other benefits. So if you’re planning to start up a business, or you run an established business in need of asset and sales financing products, check out your bank’s asset and sales financing solutions to see what difference they can make.