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ASSET…BACKED FINANCIERS 
The banks are more covert when it es to looking for security for money 
lent。 Two other major sources of funds are less circumspect; indeed their 
whole prospectus is predicated on a precise relationship between what 
a business has or will shortly have by way of assets; and what they are 
prepared to advance。 Both groups play an important role in financing 
growing businesses。 
Leasing panies 
Physical assets such as cars; vans; puters; office equipment and the 
like can usually be financed by leasing them; rather as a house or flat may 
be rented。 Alternatively; they can be bought on hire purchase。 This leaves 
other funds free to cover the less tangible elements in your cash flow。 
Leasing is a way of ge。。ing the use of vehicles; plant and equipment 
without paying the full cost all at once。 Operating leases are taken out 
where you will use the equipment (for example a car; photocopier; vending 
machine or kitchen equipment) for less than its full economic life。 The 
lessor takes the risk of the equipment being obsolete; and assumes 
responsibility for repairs; maintenance and insurance。 As you; the lessee; 
are paying for this service; it is more expensive than a finance lease; where 
you lease the equipment for most of its economic life and maintain and 
insure it yourself。 Leases can normally be extended; o。。en for fairly nominal 
sums; in the la。。er years。 
Hire purchase differs from leasing in that you have the option to eventually 
bee the owner of the asset; a。。er a series of payments。 You can find 
a leasing pany via The Finance and Leasing Association (fla 》 
For Businesses 》 Business Finance Directory); which gives details of all UKbased 
businesses offering this type of finance。 The website also has general 
information on terms of trade and code of conduct。 
Discounting and factoring 
Customers o。。en take time to pay up。 In the meantime you have to pay those 
who work for you and your less patient suppliers。 So; the more you grow; 
the more funds you need。 It is o。。en possible to ‘factor’ your creditworthy 
customers’ bills to a financial institution; receiving some of the funds as 
your goods leave the door; hence speeding up cash flow。 
Factoring is generally only available to a business that invoices other 
business customers; either in its home market or internationally; for its 
services。 Factoring can be made available to new businesses; although its 
services are usually of most value during the early stages of growth。 It is 
60 The Thirty…Day MBA 
an arrangement that allows you to receive up to 80 per cent of the cash 
due from your customers more quickly than they would normally pay。 The 
factoring pany in effect buys your trade debts; and can also provide a 
debtor accounting and administration service。 You will; of course; have to 
pay for factoring services。 Having the cash before your customers pay will 
cost you a li。。le more than normal overdra。。 rates。 The factoring service will 
cost between 0。5 and 3。5 per cent of the turnover; depending on volume of 
work; the number of debtors; average invoice amount and other related 
factors。 You can get up to 80 per cent of the value of your invoice in advance; 
with the remainder paid when your customer se。。les up; less the various 
charges just mentioned。 
If you sell direct to the public; sell plex and expensive capital equipment; 
or expect progress payments on long…term projects; then factoring 
is not for you。 If you are expanding more rapidly than other sources of 
finance will allow; this may be a useful service that is worth exploring。 
Invoice discounting is a variation on the same theme where you are 
responsible for collecting the money from debtors; this is not a service 
available to new or very small businesses。 You can find an invoice discounter 
or factor through The Asset Based Finance Association ( 
thefda。uk/public/membersList。asp); the association representing the 
UK’s 41 factoring and invoice discounting businesses。 
EQUITY 
Businesses operating as a limited pany or limited partnership have a 
potentially valuable opportunity to raise relatively risk…free money。 It is riskfree 
to the business but risky; sometimes extremely so; to anyone investing。 
Essentially this type of capital; known collectively as equity; consists of the 
issued share capital and reserves of various kinds。 It represents the amount 
of money that shareholders have invested directly into the pany by 
buying shares; together with retained profits that belong to shareholders 
but which the pany uses as additional capital。 As with debt; equity 
es in a number of different forms with differing rights and privileges。 
Ordinary shares form the bulk of the shares issued by most panies 
and are the shares that carry the ordinary risks associated with being in 
business。 All the profits of the business; including past retained profits; 
belong to the ordinary shareholders once any preference share dividends 
have been deducted。 Ordinary shares have no fixed rate of dividend; indeed 
over half the panies listed on US stock markets pay no or virtually 
no dividend。 These include high…growth panies such as Google and 
Microso。。; which argue that by retaining and reinvesting all their profits 
they can create be。。er value for shareholders than by distributing dividends。 
A pany does not have to issue all its share capital at once。 The total 
Finance 61 
amount it is authorized to issue must be shown somewhere in the accounts; 
but only the issued share capital is counted in the balance sheet。 Although 
shares can be partly paid; this is a rare occurrence。 
Preference shares get their name for two reasons。 First; they receive their 
fixed rate of dividend before ordinary shareholders。 Second; in the event of 
a winding up of the pany; any funds remaining go to repay preference 
share capital before any ordinary share capital。 In a forced liquidation this 
may be of li。。le fort; as shareholders of any type e last in the queue 
a。。er all other claims from creditors have been met。 
Class A and Class B shares are cases where categories of shareholder 
are singled out for more or less favourable treatment。 For example; class 
A shares are o。。en given up to five votes per share; while class B gets one。 
In extreme cases class B shareholders can get no votes at all。 panies 
will o。。en try to disguise the disadvantages associated with owning shares 
with fewer voting rights by naming those shares。 One of the most famous 
examples was their use by the Savoy Hotel Group to ward off an unwanted 
takeover by Trusthouse Forte。 While Trusthouse was able to buy 70 per cent 
of Savoy shares on the open market; they could secure only 42 per cent of 
the voting rights as they were only able to buy class B shares; the A shares 
being in the hands of the Savoy family and allies。 
Reserves; a typically misleading term in all accounting; means profits 
of various kinds that have been retained in the pany as extra capital。 
Also important is what the term reserves does not mean。 It does not mean 
actual money held back in reserve in bank accounts or elsewhere。 Reserves 
e from retained profits over many years but are reinvested in buildings; 
equipment; stocks or pany debts; just like any other source of capital; 
and are rarely held in cash。 
The main categories of reserves are as follows: 
。 Profit and loss account; ie cumulative retained profits from ordinary 
trading activities。 
。 Revaluation reserves; being the paper…profit that can arise if certain 
assets are revalued to current price levels without the assets concerned 
being sold。 
。 Share premium account; ie the excess over the original par value of a 
share when new shares are offered for sale at an enhanced price。 Only 
the original par value is ever shown as issued share capital。 
SOURCES OF EQUITY CAPITAL 
There are two broad sources of equity: private equity; usually put in by 
individuals or small groups of individuals who for hopefully the prospects 
of greater returns will take on greater risks; or public capital through a 
share issue on a stock market。
62 The Thirty…Day MBA 
Private

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