24
MAY 2014 PRO INSTALLER
PRO NEWS
www.proinstaller.co.uk
Late Payment Remains
a Concern for SMEs
Despite Improving
Economy Says Forum
Despite positive news on the UK economy, the continuing culture of late payment remains a concern for many small
businesses according to the latest research from the national small business group, the Forum of Private Business.
In the organisation’s
latest banking and
finance survey, 23% of
members reported an
increase in late payment over the past year
compared with just 3%
who reported a decrease.
29% have also seen an
increase in the average
number of days beyond the
deadline that a payment is
made late whilst 8% reported a decrease, and 19% have
seen an increase in both
elements of late payment.
While the improving
economic situation means
‘Government is mulling over
responses to a recent late payment
discussion paper, which revealed
ample ideas for tackling the
issue in a more robust manner’
the number of businesses
seeing late payment as a serious problem has remained
static, small businesses
are still keen to see more
measures to tackle the issue.
39% of businesses surveyed
would like to see prompt
payment better promoted,
37% would prefer to pay
VAT on money that has
entered their account rather
than when an invoice is
submitted and 36% wanted
to see persistent late payers
barred from government
contacts.
Commenting on the results
of the survey, Phil Orford
MBE, Chief Executive of the
Forum of Private Business,
said:
“Improving cash flow is
the likely cause for late
payment issues remaining
static, despite lengthening
payment terms. However,
upwards of £30 billion
remains tied up in late
payments, costing a typical
small business 130 hours a
year to chase and meaning
that a third are forced to
seek external finance to cover the gaps in cash.
Government is mulling
over responses to a recent
late payment discussion pa-
per, which revealed ample
ideas for tackling the issue
in a more robust manner
including the reintroduction
of compulsory reporting of
company payment terms
and practices, and annual
checks for Prompt Payment
Code signatories.
“It is essential that government uses the recommendations to introduce effective
measures and accepts that it
not only has a responsibility
to play in this area but also
that its increased action can
also act as an important
catalyst for better payment
practices.”
Cotswold invests in capacity
uplift programme
Stuga expands
with Ten HR
A leading international supplier of friction stays will
roll out a major production
improvement programme in
the next few months.
Stuga Machinery have become
synonymous with the manufacture of high quality British
machine tools for the cutting
and preparation of PVCu and
Aluminium profiles for the window and associated industries
over last 20 years.
Cotswold Architectural Product, which recently celebrated
its 40th anniversary, has committed to an investment strategy
that will allow it significantly to
increase its capacity.
The first stage of the programme will be to commission a
new EZ stay line – allowing for
a rapid increase in capacity for
this product.
The EZ easi-clean range of
egress stays from Cotswold is
one of the firm’s most popular; and General Manager Tim
Ferkin says that demand is
increasing month on month for
the range.
At the start of 2014 Cotswold
was acquired by Coventry-based
Caldwell UK, part of the American Caldwell Manufacturing
group - a family-owned American-based global operation
founded in 1888.
Cotswold currently supplies its
innovative hardware solutions
into 56 countries globally; and
also regularly creates bespoke
solutions for fabricators across
the UK, including some of the
industry’s most well-known
names such as Polyframe and
Safestyle; Metal Technology and
Kawneer.
Call 01242 233993 or visit
www.cotswold-windows.co.uk
In order to maintain high levels of
service and meet the needs of new
installations, Stuga has employed
the services of Ten HR to source
high calibre field service engineers.
Steve Haines comments, “We first
used Ten HR in 2006, and still
employ the same engineers today,
we put our heads together then and
agreed t he type of individuals we
needed at the time. They came back
with a selection of people that met
our needs.”
“The fact that seven years later
both are still with us, left us with
little hesitation in going back to
Ten again. We have now increased
our field service team with the
appointments of Mark Churches and
Andrew Wright.”
Bill of Ten HR comments, “It’s
always nice to deal with a client
that recognises that you are not
just interested in filling a iven job,
but is also concerned with the long
term.”