Ridgeway Furniture Manufacturing Limited

Article tags:
  • Receivables Finance
  • Bad Debt Protection

Ridgeway was originally set up in 1988 and as a self funding business suffered occasional constraints in terms of maximizing their growth opportunities due to restricted cashflow.

Challenge

In 2002 current Director, Mark Cutler, took over the business and envisioned a more ambitious growth trajectory. With credit terms being increasingly offered to growing numbers of customers, Mark realized it was necessary to find a funding solution that would enable them to bridge the gap between incoming payments and improve working capital.

Mark and his team have successfully gone through a significant growth phase, having taken on a number projects and new customers but Mark recognized the need for added security to protect business growth:

In light of recent news headlines, with large companies becoming insolvent, I saw what the ripple effects could do to the industry, which we had exposure to.

Solution

Having looked at different finance providers, Mark was impressed by the friendly and personalized approach of the team at ABN AMRO and in 2013 agreed on a £600k Receivables Finance facility.

The flexible funding solution has provided Ridgeway with the headroom to take on a number of large projects – automatically adjusting in line with the sales performance. The strong relationships and close business monitoring provided by the relationship and asset managers at ABN AMRO Commercial Finance meant Ridgeway could continue providing the quality, reliability and consistency their customers had come to expect.

The recent decision to add the optional Bad Debt Protection was put in place without fuss or delay. It has enabled Ridgeway to safeguard the business by securing their sales ledger. Most importantly, it gave Mark the confidence cashflow would be protected, providing him with the peace of mind to ensure continued growth.

Results

Through Receivables Finance, Mark and his team have facilitated growth far beyond the previous years, when the business had been self financing. The funding received has helped to grow and diversify the business. They have also recently relocated to larger premises and have recruited skilled workforce to enable expansion, including maintenance and refurbs.

Ridgeway Director, Mark Cutler says:

In general the service we have received from ABN AMRO Commercial Finance has been exceptional. We enjoy an excellent relationship with the team that look after us – they have been proactive and have offered new ideas and products that may be beneficial to our business, but have also been reactive when we have needed them to be. We’ve had plenty of offers from other funding providers, but there is an element of trust in the relationships we have developed. We would highly recommend ABN AMRO Commercial Finance to anyone seeking this type of funding solution.