Are you a lender, or a broker?

A broker. Moss Capital does not lend its own money; it arranges finance with the lenders whose appetite fits the company, which is why we can tell you a deal is wrong without losing anything but the deal.

What sort of businesses do you work with?

UK incorporated businesses — limited companies and limited liability partnerships — from owner-managed firms through to long-established family companies and management teams buying the business they run. We do not arrange consumer credit, and we do not act for individuals, sole traders or unincorporated partnerships.

What can the borrowing be for?

Working capital, money against unpaid invoices or stock, overdrafts and credit lines, machinery, vehicles and equipment, acquisitions and management buy-outs, commercial property and development, and replacing borrowing you already have on better terms. If the reason for the money is clear, there is usually a lender for it.

What do you need from us to begin?

A conversation first, and then the recent figures: the last filed accounts, management accounts if you keep them, and recent bank statements. Filed accounts on their own describe the company as it was a year ago, which is rarely the company a lender is being asked to back.

How long does it take to hear something back?

We come back within a few days, with terms from the lenders whose appetite fits what we found and the reasoning that persuaded them set out alongside. Drawdown then depends on the lender and on how quickly the paperwork moves, and we will give you an honest estimate rather than an encouraging one.

What if the answer is that we should not borrow?

Then we say so. Borrowing is worth doing when it leaves a business more productive than it was; money at a price that takes more out of the company than it puts in is not finance, and we would sooner tell you that at the start than arrange it and watch it be refinanced within the year.

Getting the business the debt it actually needs.

Six kinds of borrowing, and the argument each one requires.

What we offer

Our products and services.

Working capital

Money to trade with.

Borrowing against the trade the company already does. It is the one most businesses ring about, usually because something ordinary has gone slightly wrong with timing rather than with trading: a season that arrived early, a customer who pays in sixty days, an order rather larger than the balance sheet is comfortable with. Arranged on the cash coming in and on a reason for the money we can see clearly, which is why the first conversation is about the trading rather than the figure.

Typically
Stock ahead of a season
Wages through a slow quarter
An order bigger than the cash flow
Overdrafts and credit lines

Invoice and stock finance

Money you have earned, released early.

Cash advanced against unpaid invoices, or against stock sitting in the warehouse. Nothing is being borrowed that the company has not already earned; what is being bought is the sixty days between the work being done and the money arriving. It suits businesses that sell to larger companies on credit, and it grows with the sales ledger rather than having to be renegotiated every time trade picks up.

Typically
Selling to larger companies on credit
A sales ledger that keeps growing
Seasonal stock tying up cash
Replacing a factoring arrangement

Asset and equipment finance

Machinery, vehicles and plant.

The asset pays for itself across its working life rather than out of this quarter's cash. That is usually the difference between putting capacity in ahead of the work and turning the work down, and it is the one kind of borrowing where the security and the purpose are the same object, which tends to make lenders straightforward about it.

Typically
Machine tools and production plant
Commercial vehicles and trailers
Refinancing equipment already owned
Hire purchase and leasing

Acquisition and buy-out finance

Buying a company, including your own.

Money to buy the business next door, or the one you already run. These take longer than the rest and need the case put properly, because a lender is backing a plan and the people carrying it out rather than a set of filed accounts. Expect questions about the integration as much as the price, and expect us to ask them first.

Typically
Buying a competitor or a supplier
Management buy-outs and buy-ins
Buying out a departing co-owner
Funding earn-outs and deferred consideration

Commercial property and development

Ground to work on.

Borrowing against premises the company trades from, or to build something it will trade from later. Term loans where the building is the point, development finance where the plan is, and the distinction matters: one is priced on the property and the other on whether the scheme stands up.

Typically
Buying the premises you rent
Refinancing an existing commercial mortgage
Development and refurbishment
Bridging where the exit is clear

Refinancing what you already have

A better version of the same borrowing.

Borrowing taken in a hurry two years ago is rarely what the company should still be paying for. Sometimes the price has moved, sometimes the business has, and sometimes the repayment shape simply never fitted the trading. Worth an hour of somebody's time at least once a year, and we will tell you when the answer is to leave it alone.

Typically
Borrowing taken at short notice
Several facilities that could be one
Repayments that fight the trading cycle
Personal guarantees worth revisiting

If what you need is not on this list, ask anyway.

What to expect

Precise about the company before we are precise about the price.

We look at the whole company

Cash flow, track record, the market, what has been put in and what stands behind it, weighed together rather than scored one at a time.

We ask for current figures

Recent bank statements alongside the accounts, because filed accounts alone describe a company as it was a year ago.

We bring terms back

Within a few days, from the lenders whose appetite fits what we found, with the reasoning that persuaded them set out alongside.

Common questions

The things people ask before they ring.

Are you a lender, or a broker?: A broker. Moss Capital does not lend its own money; it arranges finance with the lenders whose appetite fits the company, which is why we can tell you a deal is wrong without losing anything but the deal.
What sort of businesses do you work with?: UK incorporated businesses — limited companies and limited liability partnerships — from owner-managed firms through to long-established family companies and management teams buying the business they run. We do not arrange consumer credit, and we do not act for individuals, sole traders or unincorporated partnerships.
What can the borrowing be for?: Working capital, money against unpaid invoices or stock, overdrafts and credit lines, machinery, vehicles and equipment, acquisitions and management buy-outs, commercial property and development, and replacing borrowing you already have on better terms. If the reason for the money is clear, there is usually a lender for it.
What do you need from us to begin?: A conversation first, and then the recent figures: the last filed accounts, management accounts if you keep them, and recent bank statements. Filed accounts on their own describe the company as it was a year ago, which is rarely the company a lender is being asked to back.
How long does it take to hear something back?: We come back within a few days, with terms from the lenders whose appetite fits what we found and the reasoning that persuaded them set out alongside. Drawdown then depends on the lender and on how quickly the paperwork moves, and we will give you an honest estimate rather than an encouraging one.
What if the answer is that we should not borrow?: Then we say so. Borrowing is worth doing when it leaves a business more productive than it was; money at a price that takes more out of the company than it puts in is not finance, and we would sooner tell you that at the start than arrange it and watch it be refinanced within the year.

Speak to us

Start the conversation.

Tell us what you need. We will come back to you within a few days.

lending@mosscapital.co.uk