Cover Story
Stuart Walsh (far left) with some of the team at the Franchise Finance headquarters in High Wycombe
F
ranchise Finance continues to grow and impress the market with its one-stop-shop approach to helping new franchisees start and grow their businesses and existing franchisees expand and improve their performance. It’s been a great year so far for the team (and by association their clients), with the company living up to its Best Service Provider Award, which was presented at the end of 2017 (with numerous excellent testimonials since). Then there was the recent announcement that the company has been purchased by finance giant Hitachi Capital, further enhancing Franchise Finance’s lending capability. Managing director Stuart Walsh says:
“Great customer service is at the heart of everything we do. We have a huge desire to help people run their businesses in a controlled, professional and profitable way, and we are proud to say we have achieved an average score of 4.8 out of five from over 150 independent reviews, with 90 per cent of those clients awarding us a maximum five out of five.”
So how can Franchise Finance
help its clients? “Well, first and foremost, we can provide you with all the business loans, overdrafts and leasing or higher purchase facilities that you are likely to require. The first two are generally used for buying franchise licences (or existing franchise businesses) and providing the all-important working capital. The second two are generally used for any equipment, machinery and vehicle purchases that you may need.” As Franchise Finance is now owned by Hitachi Capital, it has direct access to Hitachi’s funding capabilities and can get credit decisions in just 48 hours. Outside of the high-street banks, Hitachi is the largest lender in franchising, and where this doesn’t fit the needs of the franchisee, Franchise Finance works with its independent panel of chosen specialist lenders to get a great deal for clients. Franchise Finance has a 95 per cent success rate in arranging funding and normally manages this within a much
shorter timescale than most of the other finance providers in the marketplace. But what else helps Franchise Finance to achieve this? Head of strategic development, Chris Roberts, says: “We provide a lot of additional help and guidance to our customers to help them avoid the many potential pitfalls in starting or running a business. So, we can help them to carefully plan their business journeys from where they are now to where they want to get to in the future: arriving safely at their business ‘destinations’, which means they achieve their business objectives.”
Get into the driving seat and
take the wheel... Chris elaborates: “To do this clients need a detailed business plan, which we call a business satnav. So once the SMART [specific, measurable, achievable, realistic and time-based] business objectives are set, their satnav, which includes a full set of financial projections, can be used to help them monitor their progress and stay on the right road. It can also help them to see what’s around the corner so they don’t suddenly crash because of an unexpected tax bill or other unforeseen payment. The whole journey becomes a lot safer as the risks are managed and reduced. “Their business plan, or satnav, also takes into account the ‘terrain’, ie their marketplace and competitors. It covers their strategy, the resources they need and their marketing plan; all these things are fully costed into their projections so we can all be happy that they have asked at the outset for the right amount of working capital. “The projected profit-and-loss account helps to show whether there is sufficient profitability over the ‘journey’ and, therefore, whether it is worthwhile setting off in the first place. The cashflow forecast shows whether it is likely that there will be enough petrol in the tank (or money available in the bank account) to complete the whole of the journey rather than breaking down by the side of the road.” Chris Hughes heads up the business planning and funding division of Franchise
s September 2018 |
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