Shaw & Co unveils a significant revamping of its service designed to enable businesses to improve their cash flow. Businesses can now take a free online Credit Suitability check to assess their capacity for debt or working capital facilities.

The COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent lockdown has had a tremendous impact on British business over the past four months and put enormous strain on cash flow. The Government has provided several emergency measures to help businesses in this time of crisis such as the Future Fund scheme, the Coronavirus Business Interruption Loan Scheme (CBILS) or the Bounce Back Loan Scheme (BBLS).

As lockdown restrictions ease and some businesses re-open, we are entering a ‘new normal’. However, changing consumer behaviour and social distancing measurers mean that businesses face reduced revenue and a lower demand for goods and services. At the same time, the costs of being open for business may only be partially adjustable, whilst competition remains strong. In addition, business owners may not grasp the importance of this trend and therefore, may not be doing enough right now to adapt their business model accordingly.

Recognising the emerging trends and triggers of cash flow problems and making important and timely changes to business operations can help save companies from collapse. As part of this process, Shaw & Co’s cash flow improvement service is specifically designed for owner-managed SMEs in the UK that are facing cash flow problems and need at least £1 million of working capital to stabilise their business.

Shaw & Co has enhanced its cash flow services with a short free online Credit Suitability Survey. Business owners simply provide some information about their current working capital situation. The survey typically requires less than ten minutes to complete and Shaw & Co’s experts will be able to quickly identify if the business will be suitable for an injection of working capital.

The economic shock (for instance, the lockdown) is only one of eight most common issues that can cause cash flow problems; these include, temporary cash shortage; regular working capital shortage; overtrading; turnover underperforming forecast; need of short term capital to fund growth; inappropriate capital structures; and financial distress.

Speaking about the new service, Alexei Garan who leads Shaw & Co's Debt Advisory practice commented: “Managing cash flow effectively is an integral part of any business. The economic impact caused by the coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated how unprepared some businesses were to deal with large scale and prolonged cash flow challenges."

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Government loan schemes have provided some degree of cushioning however, we expect a ‘second spike’ of cash flow issues to come to the fore in the second half of 2020 and into 2021."

Alexei Garan,
Head of Debt Advisory at Shaw & Co

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Garan continues: “It is vital that businesses are fully aware of their cash flow position and how critical it is for companies to address this issue. Failure to do so, is likely to increase the risk of potential failure and ultimately corporate bankruptcy. Understanding and addressing cash flow issues will undoubtedly involve making prompt changes to your operations, ensuring better collaboration across your organisation or adjusting your sales and marketing strategy to become more competitive.”

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