The stockholding industry faces a number of issues including fluctuating raw material costs, competition from non-EU firms and an increasingly complex regulatory landscape.

However, by matching their expertise, products and capabilities to their manufacturing customers’ changing requirements, stockholders can be in a good position to grow.

To effectively capitalise on new opportunities, firms need to invest significantly in infrastructure, systems and marketing, and this places significant additional requirements on their finances.

Asset based lending, which includes factoring and invoice discounting, is well suited to the sector as stockholders often boast healthy balance sheets containing strong sales ledgers and valuable stock. 
By lending against the combined value of these and other existing assets, this form of finance can release significant funds which enable stockholders to:
• Boost working capital in order to service new contracts, manage peaks in demand and bridge the gap between issuing invoices and receiving payment
• Fund commercial improvements such as new facilities, expand capacity or drive efficiencies by purchasing new equipment
• Acquire complementary businesses which bring synergies, enhance product ranges or expand a company’s geographical footprint
These facilities allow stockholders to maintain a degree of financial control not always possible with other forms of funding and can be easily tailored to closely match a firm’s strategic objectives and ongoing expansion.

It’s these traits which are making asset based lending a well suited finance solution in the stockholding industry where flexibility and innovation is the key to success.

Lloyds TSB Commercial Finance has been providing flexible business finance to companies for over 25 years, developing tailored lending packages which boost cash flow, provide investment capital and fund acquisitions without the need to extend overdrafts or take out new business loans.