Working Capital Financing In Canada : Meet Your New Cash Flow Solutions

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How To Finance Sales Growth Via These Numerous Working capital financing solutions


OVERVIEW – Information on working capital financing loans and strategies for Canadian business. Cash flow solutions depend on various unique factors to your firm and industry

Working capital financing in Canada is provided via numerous traditional and non traditional lenders.

It's about time to meet those cash flow solutions that just might make sense for your business. Let's dig in.


Working Capital Financing in Canada is provided in a number of different ways to Canadian business owners and financial managers. The typical ‘go to ‘solutions are our Canadian banks and business oriented credit unions, but in recent years numerous non bank commercial lenders have populated the Canadian business financing landscape.


In many cases the hard core reality is that SME COMMERCIAL FINANCE needs are best provided by non bank firms who have a greater understanding and higher risk appetite as it relates to sales growth, receivable financing, inventory loans, and PO Financing and equipment leasing.
We get a lot of questions from clients who are looking for ' government grants and loans' .There are some grant type programs out there but in general they do not serve the needs of the average Canadian business owner as they relate to working capital.
There are two very viable grant and loan programs in our opinion. They are the government guaranteed Small Business Loan , aka CSBFL , aka SBL loan, as well as the federal SR &ED program. The Small business loan provides equipment and leasehold loans to Canadian business owners, and is not capped at a new high of $ 350,000.00.


This in or opinion is a great term loan, and has excellent, we repeat, excellent rates, terms and structures. But the reality is that this is a term loan and is not a working capital loan per se. When clients come to us for ‘working capital loans ‘more often than not they are referring to cash flow needs for inventory, receivables, and equipment.
Companies that spend R&D capital and invest in research can take advantage of Canada's SR&ED program. This is a non – refundable grant that covers approximately 40% of all the cash you have spent in this area. We encourage all business owners in Canada, if it is applicable, to speak to an advisor in this area. By the way, SR&ED credits can be financed and a ' SRED LOAN' is a great way to augment working capital and cash flow. Many start up firms consider this a great source of initial cash flows in their business.


Most Canadian business owners are not aware of what is known as a cash flow loan. A more sophisticated finance term for this loan is a mezzanine or ‘sub debt’ loan. For smaller and medium sized businesses these loans tend to go up to the 250k range and are offered by a specialty lender which is funded by the Government of Canada.


Larger cash flow and working capital loans tend to be in the 1 Million + range and are offered by non banks. These loans typically are unsecured, are used for working capital purposes, and have rates in the low to mid teens due to their unsecured nature. These working capital financing credit lines typically go under the term ‘asset based line of credit '. This facility margins your A/R, inventory and equipment into one large borrowing facility that mirrors the bank line of credit.


The good news about asset based lenders in Canada is just that... they focus on assets, with much less or no emphasis on ratios, covenants and personal guaratees required by traditional bank type solutions , But we never forget of course that the lowest cost and most flexible form of financing is bank credit and term facilities. They are just a lot more difficult to attain in the amount your business might require, especial for faster growth or early stage firms - as well as companies experiencing challenges.


In summary, working capital means different things to different business owners. Our focus has been on real cash flow and working capital for your business. Certain government programs might meet your needs in the areas of term loans, leasehold improvements, etc. But true working capital is the financing of current assets such as receivables, inventory, and purchase orders.
Like anyone, you would prefer to deal with an ‘expert ‘in business financing, so we encourage you to seek and speak to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business Financing Advisor with a track record of success.


Stan Prokop - founder of 7 Park Avenue Financial –
Originating business financing for Canadian companies , specializing in working capital, cash flow, asset based financing . In business 10 years - Completed in excess of 100 Million $$ of financing for Canadian corporations . Core competancies include receivables financing, asset based lending, working capital, equipment finance, franchise finance and tax credit financing. Info & Contact Details :
http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com



7 Park Avenue Financial

South Sheridan Executive Centre
2910 South Sheridan Way
Suite 301
Oakville, Ontario
L6J 7J8

Direct Line = 416 319 5769

Office = 905 829 2653

Email = sprokop@7parkavenuefinancial.com


'

Canadian Business Financing with the intelligent use of experience '


ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Stan has had a successful career with some of the world’s largest and most successful corporations.
Prior to founding 7 Park Avenue Financial in 2004 his employers over the last 25 years were, ASHLAND OIL, ( 1977-1980) DIGITAL EQUIPMENT CORPORATION, ( 1980-1990) ) CABLE & WIRELESS PLC,( 1991 -1993) ) AND HEWLETT PACKARD ( 1994-2004 ) He is an expert in Canadian Business Financing.

Stan has over 40 years of business and finance executive experience. He has been recognized as a credit/financial executive for three of the largest technology companies in the world; Hewlett-Packard, Digital Equipment and Cable & Wireless. Stan has had in depth, hands on experience in assessing and evaluating thousands of companies that are seeking financing and expansion. He has been instrumental in helping many companies progress through every phase of financing, mergers & acquisitions, sales and marketing and human resources. Stan has worked with startups and public corporations and has many times established the financial wherewithal of organizations before approving millions of dollars of financing facilities and instruments on behalf of his employers.


Stan Prokop

Mergers And Acquisitions Financing In Canada : Connecting The Dots On SME Commercial Finance Opportunities

Talking Serious On Financing Mergers and Acquisitions For SME Commercial Finance Needs

OVERVIEW – Information on financing mergers and acquisitions in Canada . SME Commercial finance needs can be always be met if you are purchasing a business or merging two firms .

Mergers and Acquisitions financing in Canada is somewhat of a ' connect the dots '

challenge for many entrepreneurs, business owners and financial managers who are looking to successfully complete SME Commercial Finance transactions in Canada . Whether you're a buyer or a seller it's all about knowing alternatives and recognizing how obstacles can be overcome... bottom line... ‘Talking serious '! Let's dig in.

Quite often a calculated merger makes sense for many companies - other times opportunities arise (sometimes at the misfortune of others) that cannot be ignored but should be exploited in a positive manner. Raising capital in either a sale, merger, or acquisition creates wealth when executed properly.

In many cases it's simply a sale and purchase of assets and other interests a business might have, up to and including business ' relationships '.

One of the immediate complexities of any sale or purchase of a business is the issue of ' asset' versus ' share' transactions. Here's where talking to your lawyer and accountant can help avoid major pitfalls. Issues to consider are asset values, taxes, and potential liabilities.

Existing financing must also be addressed, including secured creditors, leases, premises, etc.

In a lot of cases a formal ' opinion' or ' valuation' of certain or all assets or total busines value might be required. Many times a lender will specify a certain appraiser or valuator as a condition of their financing, which is a case of a trusted relationship between the lender and the appraiser.

Highly recommended in any case of purchase, sale, or merger is a proper business plan that reflects areas of value and challenge - most importantly cash flows.

Valuation plays a large part in the successful financing of any transaction. Capital raised is dependent on actual asset values ( a/r , inventory, equipment ) and ability to generate cash flows to pay down acquisition financing as well as daily operational financing .

Many less experienced business people are often either confused or unaware of the different valuation methods - ' Comparables ' ' Times Earnings/ Times Sales ' ' Discounted Cash Flow ' ' Cash Flow Analysis ' etc.

The type and cost for the valuation will ultimately depend on the transaction size, complexity and risk profile.

Ways to achieve merger and acquisition financing in the SME Commercial area? They include;

Govt Small Business Loans

Bank term loans / operating facilities

Asset based lending

Sale Leasebacks / Bridge Loans


They might be separately considered, or in some cases cobbled together to successfully complete a transaction. Don’t forget also that ' Seller Financing’ can often be the last piece of the puzzle.

If you're looking to ' talk serious ' when in comes to purchases or merging or selling a business seek out and speak to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business Financing Advisor with a track record of success who can assist you in your needs.



Stan Prokop - 7 Park Avenue Financial :

http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com

Business financing for Canadian Firms , specializing in working capital, cash flow, asset based financing , Equipment Leasing , franchise finance and Cdn. Tax Credit Finance . Founded 2004 - Completed in excess of 90 Million $ of financing for Canadian corporations . Info /Contact :



7 PARK AVENUE FINANCIAL = CANADIAN MERGERS & ACQUISITIONS FINANCING






Have A Question /Comment On Our Blog Or Canadian Business Financing Alternatives ?
CONTACT:
7 Park Avenue Financial

South Sheridan Executive Centre
2910 South Sheridan Way
Suite 301
Oakville, Ontario
L6J 7J8

Direct Line = 416 319 5769

Office = 905 829 2653



Email = sprokop@7parkavenuefinancial.com


' Canadian Business Financing With The Intelligent Use Of Experience '

Stan Prokop

Canadian Business Financing : Game plan Required For SME Commercial Finance Needs

Is Your Search For Canadian Business Financing Resembling The Star Trek Dilithium Saga?

OVERVIEW – Information on Canadian business financing . Do you have the right game plan for SME Commercial finance needs to grow and operate your company ?

Canadian business financing comes with a game plan requirement. If there's any good news on that it’s that there's no discrimination when it comes to being a start up, small business, or large corporate.

Consider it as tough a solution as the ' Dilithium ' story line on Star Trek (rare Dilithium crystals were rare and needed to be replicated properly and the search was lengthy). The right steps and strategy in finding the right solution is your version of that saga. Let's dig in.

Larger corporate borrowers do not have the emphasis on personal guarantees and outside collateral that are required of the start up entrepreneur and SME. It's therefore necessary for the latter to ensure their personal credit situations are in order. The good news here is that while many non traditional financings require proper disclosure in this area less emphasis is placed on this aspect of business credit application, offset by either asset strength or the proven ability to generate cash flow.

Canadian banks focus on term loans and revolving lines of credit. Low cost, plentiful, they come with the requirements one would associate with bank funding - profits, cash flow, clean financials, secondary sources of collateral. ‘Unsecured debt ' is available, but comes with requirements of high net worth and demonstrable cash flow. It's a fabulous area to waste your time in if you can’t meet those requirements!

Business plans are not always required for many types of business lending
While being critical for start ups, government loans, etc they can be easily replaced with a solid cash flow and revenue forecast - one that accurately reflects timings and inflow and outflow of cash from daily operations. The ultimate irony in one aspect of Canadian business finance is that growing too fast is actually a turn off to many conservative lenders as cash needs can’t be accurately identified.

But growing fast and large is in fact desirable when it comes to such finance solutions as Asset Based Lending which focuses on financing all your receivable and inventory requirements generated by hyper growth.

Being turned down by a bank or traditional commercial lender still offers many other alternatives to commercial financing in the SME sector. Those solutions include:

Factoring / Confidential Receivable Financing

Inventory Finance

Government guaranteed SBL loans

Equipment Leasing/ Sale leaseback/ asset based bridge loans

PO / Contract financing

Asset based revolving lines of credit (the ' ABL ' solutions)

Revenue/ Royalty Financing

Monetization of SR&ED tax credits (if applicable to firms spending on R&D

In any form of Canadian business finance allow enough time to source and achieve the financing you need, and consider the services of a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business Financing Advisor with a track record of success to deliver on your Dilithium dilemma!




Stan Prokop - 7 Park Avenue Financial :

http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com

Business financing for Canadian Firms , specializing in working capital, cash flow, asset based financing , Equipment Leasing , franchise finance and Cdn. Tax Credit Finance . Founded 2004 - Completed in excess of 90 Million $ of financing for Canadian corporations . Info /Contact :


http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com/canadian-business-financing-sme-commercial-finance.html


Have A Question /Comment On Our Blog Or Canadian Business Financing Alternatives ?

CONTACT:

7 Park Avenue Financial
South Sheridan Executive Centre
2910 South Sheridan Way
Suite 301
Oakville, Ontario
L6J 7J8

Direct Line = 416 319 5769

Office = 905 829 2653



Email = sprokop@7parkavenuefinancial.com


' Canadian Business Financing With The Intelligent Use Of Experience '

Stan Prokop

SME Commercial Finance : Let Confidential Factoring Be Your Invisible Cash Flow Weapon

SME Commercial Finance Has One Solution For Flawed And Hard To Fix Business Financing : Here It is

OVERVIEW – Information on confidential factoring in Canada . SME Commercial Finance solutions include, but are not limited to , creative solutions including confidential invoice discounting . Here’s how it works






SME Commercial Finance (small to medium enterprise) Options can be found in both new and old business financing solutions. A twist on one of those old options, invoice discounting, is found in CONFIDENTIAL FACTORING. It is one finance solution that helps the business owner/ financial manager fixed ‘flawed’ or non existent financing. Let's dig in.

A/R financing on its own has been around for awhile - hundreds of years to be exact!

Does a finance solution that old still work? Absolutely, which is why tens of thousands of businesses just like yours access this ' cash flow acceleration ' technique.

Unless you're working with an expert you might find the industry itself does a fairly good job, hopefully unintentional, of educating and offering Canadian business with this working capital ' fix'. Part of that is the terminology, which might include references to ' invoice discounting ', ' asset based lending' ' receivable finance ' etc.

So while wading through those terms the business owner/manager in the SME commercial area loses the key meaning of this financing solution. And here it is: Products and services you sell to your business clients generate sales revenue on invoicing.

Utilizing a solution such as (confidential) factoring allows you to receive 90% of your sale as soon as it is invoiced. The remaining 10%, less a finance charge, is banked by yourself as soon as your client pays, which typically these days is in the 30-60 day range. By the way a tight credit and collection policy make solutions such as confidential factoring even more appealing when considering this SME COMMERCIAL FINANCE option.

The whole aspect of ' CONFIDENTIAL ' factoring really revolves around an ' old school ' 'new school '

term we need to clear up. The majority, pretty well close to 99% of business factoring companies ‘notify ' a client, i.e. your customer! When they are financing your receivables. CONFIDENTIAL A/R FINANCE skips this process, allowing you to bill and collect your own receivables. That whole ' verification' and ' notification' process can be a huge turn off for companies that see the true value of this method of Canadian business financing.

So whether it makes simple ' economic sense' not to involve your clients in your own financing, or whether the optics of wondering what clients and vendors might think

about your access and need of capital , the bottom line is that utilizing this finance vehicle has given you full blown cash flow financing and its nobody's business but yours.

And here's another dose of reality - you just might find your competitors will now be wondering about where that new found financing strength came from , as they see your company taking on larger orders and contracts.

If your firm is looking to finance sales at reasonable and competitive costs and you require cash flow to grow that might not be available from traditional bank sources seek out and speak to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business Financing Advisor with a track record of success on the merits of CONFIDENTIAL FACTORING in the SME Commercial Finance solutions category .



Stan Prokop - 7 Park Avenue Financial :

http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com

Business financing for Canadian Firms , specializing in working capital, cash flow, asset based financing , Equipment Leasing , franchise finance and Cdn. Tax Credit Finance . Founded 2004 - Completed in excess of 90 Million $ of financing for Canadian corporations . Info /Contact :

http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com/confidential-factoring-sme-commercial-finance.html


Have A Question /Comment On Our Blog Or Canadian Business Financing Alternatives ?
CONTACT:

7 Park Avenue Financial
South Sheridan Executive Centre
2910 South Sheridan Way
Suite 301
Oakville, Ontario
L6J 7J8

Direct Line = 416 319 5769

Office = 905 829 2653



Email = sprokop@7parkavenuefinancial.com


' Canadian Business Financing with the intelligent use of experience '

Stan Prokop

SME Commercial Finance . Beating The Challenges Of A Bank Business Loan In Canada

Is Canadian Business Financing Giving You That Weight Of The World Feeling?


OVERVIEW – .Information on SME commercial finance in Canada . How does the Canadian business owner/manager access a bank business loan and other commercial non bank financing solutions . What works .. when?




SME Commercial Finance. And by the way, what's a SME. As most of us know it’s the Small and Medium sized enterprises in Canada. Various definitions exist about the maximum size of these firms, which is usually related to employee headcount - All we know is that the ' SME' sector drives 50% or more of the entire economy of Canada.

That brings us around to the bank business loan, which is often the ' go to' strategy in the business finance challenge. Are the banks lending to start up, small and medium enterprises in Canada? They are of course, if we are to believe their websites and TV commercials!

No one disputes the strength and flexibility and pricing on Canadian chartered bank finance solutions. They are bar none the best. More often than not we think the consensus is that it’s larger corporations and public, more 'liquid' companies who seem to be benefitting from all the action. A lot of non bank commercial asset and working capital solutions are being delivered by commercial finance companies, leasing companies, etc.

One of our favorite U.S. pundits makes a strong statement on this whole issue; he recently stated that a firm’s ability to continue to generate profits and more profits and improve cash flow in fact should not have the business owner and financial manager focusing on rate.

So how does the business owner approach the whole bank business loan issue? And by the way, in many cases it’s a case of being approved for bank financing, just not enough! which is a common issue.

The actual timing of getting bank financing often is a challenge. When there’s any current economic or ' market conditions ' issues, for example the 2008 world wide collapse the timeline, shall we say... lengthens!

So how does the SME sector approach the whole issue of ensuing that current and future financial needs will be taken care of? You can start by asking yourself some key questions, such as:

Do we really understand our financing requirements? Is it a question of new debt, term loans, or monetizing current assets into cash flow? All of these come without the expense of selling or giving up more equity ownership.

How long will we need these finance requirements?

Do we truly understand the benefits, rates, payout provisions, and credit criteria and covenants related to any specific type of financing?

What bank or non bank finance can we tap to secure the financing we need, and who can help us?

Oh yes... can we reasonably expect to be approved?


In the real world (that’s where we work daily) it's all about what industry you are in, the experience of your management, and the quality of your financials as they relate to balance sheet strength and profits, or lack thereof! Remember also that each type of financing is going to come with different financial covenants and conditions.

Don't forget to consider what also happens when you achieve the wrong type of financing, or are locked into a finance solution you can't get out of. All of a sudden competitors attack and you're vulnerable.

When you are testing the market for a bank business loan, or a non bank financing solution (there are many!) consider seeking and speaking to a trusted, credible and experienced Canadian business financing advisor who can help you with that ' weight of the world ' feeling when it comes to Canadian business financing solutions that you need today .. and tomorrow.



Stan Prokop - founder of 7 Park Avenue Financial –
http://www.7parkavenuefinancial.com
Originating business financing for Canadian companies , specializing in working capital, cash flow, asset based financing . In business 10 years - has completed in excess of 80 Million $$ of financing for Canadian corporations . Core competancies include receivables financing, asset based lending, working capital, equipment finance, franchise finance and tax credit financing.
Info re: Canadian business financing & contact details :


SME COMMERCIAL FINANCE BUSINESS BANK LOAN










7 Park Avenue Financial
South Sheridan Executive Centre
2910 South Sheridan Way
Suite 301
Oakville, Ontario
L6J 7J8
Phone = 905 829 2653
Fax = 905 829 2653
Email = sprokop@7parkavenuefinancial.com















Stan Prokop