When we think of the benefits of asset finance, we know that obtaining finance to buy new vehicles, machinery or equipment leaves you more money in your business and more control over cash flow.
However, another option for generating cash is asset refinance. This allows a person or business to raise cash against assets they already own unencumbered. As with asset finance, manageable monthly payments are agreed over a fixed term. Refinance is available against all wheeled and tracked assets.
An important point to note is that refinance is only available on assets that you or your company own outright i.e. Assets that are not currently financed.
In easy terms:
How Does Asset Refinancing Work?
Release equity from vehicles, plant or machinery
Finance company take security in the equipment
Advance is paid directly to you to utilise
Written on a Hire Purchase agreement, so you take back ownership of the equipment at the end of the term
It can also be used to restructure debt within the business
What Are The Benefits Of Asset Refinancing?
Provides working capital
Can be used to raise capital to invest in intangibles in the business
Improve company facilities
Could use the capital raise as a deposit on more machinery
Invest in growth
Your use of the asset is unrestricted
How Does Your Business Qualify?
Suitable rationale for cash
LTV (Loan-to-Value) against the assets is suitable
Have opportunity for expansion
We have been helping a lot of businesses recently with this product to enable them to release cash flow into their business when they really need it.
If you would like to discuss how this product may help you or your business then please give us a call on 01603 381955 or email us on sales@credoassetfinance.com
Online shopping has become a massive opportunity for many businesses. The Coronavirus lockdown has forced a rapid change in consumer behaviour seeing people move away from traditional “bricks and mortar” shopping.
If you are ready to join the e-commerce industry, it’s never been easier to start an online shop. Our new guide will take you step by step through all the important decisions you need to make, and how to start your online shop.
Our very own John Bradley – Automotive Business Development Manager is the co-organiser of the Lap of Anglia. The event started in 2013 and to date has raised over £133,000 for the life saving charity.
This year, Chatsbrook are proud to announce that not only are we the official car sponsor for Lap of Anglia and providing our Chatsbrook Mini and Defender to support the Lappers and their 435 mile journey around the border of the Air Ambulances territory, but we will also be matching the Lappers by pledging to walk 435 miles in the month of July. The 435 miles will be collectively completed by #TeamChatsbrook in a bid to inspire more donations to the East Anglian Air Ambulance. Check in with us on our JustGiving page and on our social pages @chatsbrook from the 1st- 31st July as we provide updates on the progress of our miles!
East Anglian Air Ambulance (EAAA) is a 365-day-a-year helicopter emergency medical service (HEMS) covering Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire, Norfolk & Suffolk. They exist to save lives by delivering highly skilled doctors and critical care paramedics by air to seriously ill or injured people in the region. The EAAA do not receive regular direct government funding and the £13 million needed to raise this year comes directly from charitable donations. They are only kept airborne thanks to supporters. If you can, please donate to this amazing cause and spread awareness of this fundraiser by sharing our posts on social media.
Here at Scale Up New Anglia, we continue to offer an extensive and varied events programme which is fully funded by the ERDF and is provided to you at no direct cost to you or your business.
As part of our Scale Up journey we provide a gateway to a number of Pathways and these can be both internal through our Silver to Gold or Mastermind programmes, or externally with companies such as Goldman Sachs, Innovate UK Edge and Tech Nation to name a few!
During the national ‘Scale Up’ week which commences 17th May we are hosting, short 1 to 2 hour events with 10 different Pathways. This will allow our members to meet the Pathway Programme Managers and advocates of their programmes to understand and ask questions to find out which Pathway is best for their business. Here at Scale Up New Anglia we understand that one of the biggest challenges you face when growing your business, is getting the correct information and support to assist you on your journey, and by providing these events we will hopefully help you gain some insight. If you have any initial questions on what pathway may be best for you, please contact Stephen.hart@newangliagrowthhub.co.uk or morgan.potter@newangliagrowthhub.co.uk and they will help guide you to the correct path.
For a full list of all our upcoming events from the New Anglia Growth Hub and Scale Up New Anglia please visit https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/o/new-anglia-growth-hub-12863347510
Recently we have also created a LinkedIn group, where we not only advertise our events but want to create an online community where discussions can take place on good practices or challenges you have come across during your scaling and growth experiences. To join our group please click here https://www.linkedin.com/groups/13785419/
We were pleased to accept the award for Integration and Collaborative Working at the Norfolk Constructing Excellence Awards event broadcast today. We received the award in recognition of the integrated and collaborative approach adopted in the delivery of the new Mustard Mill and Mint Processing Facility for Condimentum at the Food Enterprise Park.
We are immensely proud of what we have achieved in delivering the new mustard mill and mint facility for Condimentum, and we are now delighted to receive this award in recognition of the integrated and collaborative approach adopted. Without this approach we wouldn’t have achieved completion of the project on time and met the key milestones from the decommissioning programme for Carrow Works.
If you’re going to damage a floorboard it is typically going to be the one right in the centre of the room. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there and yes we’ve all spent time trying to find something “suiting” to comfortably sit on top of the now flawed board – or at least strategically placed your little toe on it when guests come to visit!
Help is right at your fingertips as below are 7 simple steps to get your floor back in tip-top condition…
1. Drill a hole in all four corners of the damaged board – paying careful attention to surrounding boards
2. Remove the entire length of the board by cross cutting it; you can do this with a rip saw set to the depth of the flooring installed (refer to sizes from the manufacturer)
3. Make a cut down the edges around 1cm in and remove the centre sections (you should have 4 triangular shapes to remove)
4. Slide & pull out the remaining 4 strips – be careful here to not damage the tongue and groove of the surrounding boards
5. Select a replacement board identical or suiting to the rest of the floor
6. Remove the lip of the groove on the replacement boards header and long edge and then angle the floorboard into place
7. Secure the new board with a D3 adhesive to the surrounding boards locking system, when this is done place a weight over it (not your toe) until the adhesive has set
Voila! You have a beautiful floor.
A professional installer should complete this in 40 minutes but remember to take your time when attempting anything like this yourself. Alternatively you could click back to the damaged floorboard, replace and relay or look into relaying your entire floor.
If relaying the entire floor is the option for you, you’ve come to the right place, let Quick-Step inspire you with their latest ad – watch it here!
As anyone who’s ever been locked out of the bathroom can tell you, it’s never fun battling a broken door handle. As a common issue, it’s always handy to know how to fix this particular problem – so if your toolbox is prepped and you’re raring to go, let’s get stuck in:
1. When a handle breaks, there’s normally one side that’s faultier than the other. However, regardless of which side is worse, it’s always best to take both sides of the handle off in a bid to gain a clearer picture of the fault.
2. Once you’ve removed both sides, you should be able to identify a cross-member (usually rectangular in shape) that fits between the two handles – take this out using some long-nosed pliers
3. As the years go by, this cross-member wears, meaning that it often becomes too short to run between each fitting (hence why only one side of the handle works).
4. To rectify this fault, simply pad out the groove in which this cross-member sits in each handle using some tiny nuts and a tiny drop of glue. By spacing out the fittings, you’ll be shortening the gap in which this rectangular cross-member sits – which should prevent the fault occurring again anytime soon!
LV Shipping was founded in 1921 in Vlaardingen, The Netherlands, by the Lensveld family , under the name J Lensveld & Zonen BV. The company originally used a horse and cart to transport sand and cement in supporting the growing Dutch infrastructure sector at that time. Now in its 4th generation of family ownership, Vlaardingen remains the company’s global HQ.
The company grew rapidly in The Netherlands, developing expertise in the project logistics sector and started trading in the UK in 1986 after securing an energy project in the UK North Sea.
The company has grown massively since that time and now incorporates ten UK offices from Aberdeen to Felixstowe, along with just under 200 UK staff. LV is still very much involved in the energy sector and has provided shipping, transport and general logistics support for many of the UK’s major oil and gas related projects, along with involvement in more recent years with all phases of the UK wind farm and renewable energy sector.
The company’s continued involvement in the energy sector has in turn led to wider global development with LV offices being set up in strategic locations such as Houston (USA) , Rio de Janeiro (Brazil) , Baku (Azerbaijan) , Damman (Saudi Arabia) , and Singapore.
Now in 2021 and with the onset of Brexit the company is set to continue its growth as it provides the full logistics package to UK companies looking to export and import to and from the EU. The company’s purpose-built warehouse and fulfilment centre at Maasvlakte (Rotterdam) is already home to several UK companies who have decided to have a base in the EU for their distribution needs and, combined with LV’s own ferry-trailer and transport services, along with in-house customs clearance and fiscal representation capabilities, the company has positioned itself as a genuine “one-stop-shop” in terms of UK and EU logistics services in the post-Brexit trading environment.
For some time, we’ve been hearing about the decline of physical retail, spurred on by the digital age and our growing preference for the online marketplace. In the 10 years between January 2010 and January 2020, for example, the UK lost over 50,000 shops.
Despite that, physical retailers still hold much of the market share. And there remains plenty of opportunity for physical retailers to set themselves up for renewed success. One such opportunity lies in the very thing that’s blamed for their decline – digital technology.
It’s almost impossible for online shopping to replicate the most experiential elements of buying something in-person. For this reason, physical retailers should play to their strengths while also exploring how digital technology can give customers the best of both worlds in-store.
Take Amazon as a case in point. Its Amazon Fresh brand has launched its first till-less grocery store in London, which sees shoppers simply scan their phone on entry and receive a bill automatically on departure – without a need to scan products individually. This ‘effort-free’ mode of shopping, however, relies extensively on technology and connectivity, with hundreds of cameras and sensors working seamlessly.
Other retailers have focused on transforming their fitting rooms through the use of augmented and virtual reality. Imagine being in a fitting room, putting on a jacket you like the look of and being able to change the colour or size in the blink of an eye. That makes life easier for the customers, but it also saves time, allowing more people to make use of the changing room and thus generating more sales.
Technology can also be used to encourage passers-by to step inside through interactive window displays, as Ted Baker has shown to great effect.
Perhaps most importantly, retailers can use digital tech to better understand consumer behaviour. By harnessing data, they can make informed decisions such as what merchandise to prioritise and how to lay out the store to encourage sales or make them more profitable. Stock levels can even be tracked, helping keep unneeded stock to a minimum and saving money on warehouse space.
These are just a few of the opportunities presented by digital technology for the high street. And while the cost of some of these technologies may be prohibitive for now, that will change as the tech becomes more ubiquitous – meaning it won’t just be major retailers who can reap the rewards.
However, data hungry technologies need connectivity they can rely on – without that, any positive customer benefits could easily be undone by a glitchy experience. They need the best possible digital foundation which is why CityFibre is soon to be building a new full fibre network in Norwich.
Designed for the digital age, full fibre networks use 100% fibre optic technology to carry data at light speed all the way from the home to the point of connection – a pristine open highway with no bumps in sight. This gives users consistently faster speeds, near limitless bandwidth and connectivity you can depend on.
Most importantly for retailers, full fibre underpins 5G connectivity, which will be crucial to their ability to adopt cutting-edge technology and encourage shoppers to flock to the high street. Think of it as a high-capacity public wifi, connecting consumers with digital tech in shops, restaurants and on the streets themselves, and creating an experience that just can’t be matched in an online-only world.
So whether it’s friction-free shopping, interactive displays or smart fitting rooms, full fibre and 5G helps to power all of these advances. Now, who’s for some retail therapy?
For more information about CityFibre’s Gigabit City Programme visit www.cityfibre.com
In this podcast Haze Carver (The Zinger) chats with Simon Best, Funding and programmes specialist & Harry Harris, Business Advisor from Great Yarmouth Borough Council to find out more on the success of their incredible £20 million grants programme, securing the town centre regeneration fund and what this means for the future of Great Yarmouth.
From the £13.7m investment Future High Streets fund, bringing to life the vision to transform and revive the town centre as a vibrant economic, cultural and community hub to the processed £20 million worth of Business grant applications during 2020, listen in to hear more about the exciting plans for Great Yarmouth.
❓ We get asked a lot of questions here at S2 Computers ❓ To make life easier for you, we have put together some PDF guides and videos in our new online Knowledge Centre to cover the most common topics and to offer our expert opinion. All of our videos come with captions so you don’t need to watch them with the sound on, and our guides are easy to read with no complicated tech jargon! In the Knowledge Centre you can also request a FREE copy of two books written by our Director Andy Atthowe. The books Email Hijack and Caught in the crosshairs (explains GDPR like you’ve never heard before, how you are under attack from pirates and the Government) cover two key IT security topics for any business. The Email Hijack book is an essential read for every business owner and manager. It explains complicated cyber security concepts in a way that anyone can understand. Imagine coming back from holiday. And discovering £12,000 had been stolen from your business bank account…No matter what your turnover is, that scenario would be a total nightmare, wouldn’t it? But perhaps you’re confident that it could never happen to your business. Well let me gently challenge that. Because I’ve seen this kind of theft happen to plenty of businesses round here. It’s not a company insider who steals the cash. Nor someone at the bank. And it doesn’t require anyone to steal your bank login credentials. No, this kind of theft can be set up very easily by a hacker – and all they need is to gain access to one person’s email account. In fact, email is the number one security threat to your business. It’s where most cyber breaches start. It also reveals that these days, every business can be hacked. Because hackers don’t go after specific targets anymore. They use automated software to target ALL businesses, ALL the time. The book also shows you how best to defend yourself and your team. There are a huge number of protective measures you could use. But the real trick is finding the right blend that suits your business. One that protects you well, without interrupting how your staff do things (creating frustration among your staff). If there’s another topic you’d like to see us cover in our Knowledge Centre, drop us a line at: sales@s2-computers.co.uk
“The widening of the UK’s trade deficit in August is disappointing, and signifies a much weaker trading position than the average for the year, with exports falling and imports rising sharply in the month. Taken together with the recent widening of the current account deficit, the figures paint a rather gloomy picture of the UK’s external position.
“The latest trade data is further evidence that the decline in sterling’s value over the past year is doing little to boost the UK’s overall trade position. Businesses continue to report that the post-EU referendum weakness in sterling is hurting as much as its helping, with firms continuing to face higher input costs due to the weakening currency, particularly those locked into global supply chains. For those companies that rely on overseas suppliers for their production equipment, a weak pound also makes investment in growth less viable.
“Businesses want to see comprehensive trade talks begin in the EU negotiations before the end of the year, and need answers to the practical questions about our trading relationship with Europe beyond March 2019. At the same time, it is vital that more is done help firms take advantage of new trading opportunities, including greater practical assistance for exporters and tackling some of the longstanding issues at home including the chronic skill shortages and the cost of doing business in the UK.”