THE BRITISH ECONOMY NEEDS YOU
Contents HOW DOES IT WORK?... WHAT S IN IT FOR YOU?... WHAT S IN IT FOR YOUR SUPPLIER?... ZERO DEBT... NO FEES... EXPORTS... OUR PEOPLE... HOW DOES URICA DIFFER FROM DEBT OR INVOICE DISCOUNTING?... WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT US... CONTACT US... 5 7 9 11 11 13 14 17 18 19 Page 2
URICA IS THE REVOLUTIONARY BUT COMMON SENSE EARLY PAYMENT PLATFORM Funded by the British Business Bank and RSA (Royal Sun Alliance, the FTSE 100 insurer), URICA has no links or exposure to banks. It s an entirely new way of doing Business on Better Terms. Benefit from a fitter, resilient and more supportive supply chain but also enjoy improved cash flow. Ensure your vital but vulnerable UK SME suppliers get early cash against their invoices so they re ready to step up and keep pace with your growth. Connect with your export customers and get paid early cash against your sales and cut your credit and currency risk
YOU SUPPLIER BOTH YOU AND YOUR SUPPLIER SIGN UP TO URICA
HOW DOES IT WORK? URICA is a network that you can use to connect with your suppliers and customers. It s free. It s simple. And when you do, URICA will bridge the funding gap of your payment terms. You may have received an invite, but if you haven t you can always ask us for one. With it you ll have a login and password. Register on the platform and you are ready to go. We ll allocate you part of the fund and you can start networking your suppliers. It s automatic. The platform will send an email invite to each of your suppliers with a unique login and password, and when they accept to join your network you ll be notified. Once your network is ready, your suppliers will be able to invoice you electronically, saving you valuable time. When you agree their invoicing, URICA will pay them. So they ll receive early cash, and be there when you need them to grow with you. And you can wait up to 90 days after invoice date to settle with the URICA. The platform will produce an Excel summary of all transactions that you can easily load into your accounting system. There s no integration, no complicated process, and it will work seamlessly with your current business practises. THE FACEBOOK OF FINANCE. URICA TAKES THE FRICTION OUT OF PAYMENT TERMS Page 5
WHAT S IN IT FOR YOU? GAIN SUPPLY CHAIN RESILIENCE EXTENDED SUPPLIER CREDIT TURN SUPPLIERS INTO SUPPORTERS
WHAT S IN IT FOR YOU? If you would like to strengthen your supply chain with our cash, and potentially receive a boost to your cash reserves from a period of extended credit, then URICA is the solution. A strong supply chain will be vital to the growth plans of your business. URICA delivers this to you at no cost and without you having to spend any of your own cash or disrupt existing business practices. Provided your company meets our financial criteria (typically a stable track record and conservative balance sheet with turnover of 10m to 200m) we will offer you a pool of cash that you can use to pay your suppliers early. How early will be determined by you and how quickly you can approve their invoices that they will load up onto our platform, but typically it is 5 to 15 days after invoice date. You will also decide when you want to repay URICA, which can be any time up to 90 days after invoice date. There will be no cost to you, and your supplier will only pay a small early settlement discount on each invoice they get paid early. Typically this is 85 to 250 on a 10,000 invoice, but critically your supplier gets paid cash without any recourse or any need for personal guarantees or security, so they strengthen their business and are now better able to support your growth. We will ask you to sign a simple two page Terms and Conditions, but you will be free to stop using URICA at any time without obligation. So there is no downside to getting going. Simply get in touch with us and we will run you through the simple next steps. DEBT IN YOUR SUPPLY CHAIN IS THE BIG UNSEEN RISK. Page 7
WHAT S IN IT FOR YOUR SUPPLIER? NO CATCH NO DEBT TURN SUPPLIERS INTO SUPPORTERS
WHAT S IN IT FOR A SUPPLIER? If you are a UK supplier with a turnover of under 50m, we can help solve your cash flow problems. We will buy your invoices from you much earlier than you normally get paid, provided only that your customer is a strong enough business to meet our criteria, and your customer has signed up to use URICA. Provided both apply, we will pay you cash for any invoices you load onto our platform without any request for recourse, personal guarantees or hidden fees. How early you get paid will be determined by how quickly your customer can agree your invoice on our platform, but it could be as early as the day after invoice date. We will deduct a small early settlement discount from each payment we make to you, typically 85 to 250 on a 10,000 invoice. But there are no other fees and no additional charges, and you will be entirely free to stop using URICA at any time. It s cash to your business. CASH KEEPS FLOWING We don t need a legal charge over your business. You won t be asked to agree all sorts of banking covenants. And we never take personal guarantees. NONE of this is required with URICA. You use URICA when you want. It s always your option. There are no lockups. And as a supplier you only agree an early settlement discount when you ask to receive early payment. So for a small deduction on an invoice by invoice basis you now have the ability to receive early cash to strengthen your business and fund your growth. Page 9
ZERO DEBT NO FEES BUSINESS ON BETTER TERMS
ZERO DEBT URICA is cash. NO catches and NO comebacks. If you sign up to URICA your suppliers will be paid early, but you can continue to account for them as a trade creditor until you settle up to 90 days after invoice date. URICA is radically different from bank borrowing or invoice factoring (debt by another name). With debt or invoice discounting there are direct financial comebacks. With URICA, once you agree the invoice is accurate, your supplier is paid in full (less a small early settlement discount). And that s it. There are no charges over your or your supplier s business, no personal guarantees (we don t want your house), and there s no need to discuss it with your bank. URICA is totally ancillary and nondisruptive to anything that you already have in place. NO FEES. NO CATCH. NO DEBTS. Sound too good to be true? Well it s not. URICA is a 21st Century solution to a long running structural fault in business finance where small companies carry the burden of financing their customer s growth through extended payment terms. NO FEES With URICA there are no fees no set up fees, annual fees, minimum fees, transaction fees, nonutilisation fees, processing fees or exit fees. And because it s not debt there s no interest charge. We simply require a small discount, typically 85 to 250 on a 10,000 invoice, that the supplier agrees each time we pay early. Page 11
FRICTION FREE EXPORTS
EXPORTS If you are supplying goods or services to an overseas customer and you are a small or medium size business, URICA can help you get paid much earlier, and remove any credit or currency risk from the transaction. Provided your customer is a strong enough business to meet our criteria (typically a stable track record and conservative balance sheet with turnover of 10m to 200m) and they agree to working with URICA on your behalf, then we can pay you cash as soon as your customer can approve the invoice. And it is simple and straight forward two pages of Terms and Conditions and no demand for security or personal guarantees or unworkable bank covenants. You agree a small early settlement discount on each payment we make to you. Pricing is highly competitive, and there are no other hidden charges. And because everything is done on an invoice by invoice basis, you choose which invoices you would like paid early, and you are free to stop using URICA at any time. It costs your customer nothing, and they will have up to 90 days to repay URICA. We understand the sensitivities of your business relationships and we would never contact your customer without your approval, but if you would like to find out more, please contact us. REMOVE ANY CREDIT OR CURRENCY RISK URICA is all about putting Business on Better Terms, and we think paying non-recourse cash early to entrepreneurial businesses like your own is a better way. Page 13
OUR PEOPLE LINDSAY WHITELAW, CEO Lindsay is a Scottish businessman who co-founded Artemis, a leading UK-based fund manager that manages an asset base of more than 15bn. He is also Chairman of The Artemis Charitable Foundation and a trustee of the Active Earth Foundation. SARAH BOYD, COO Sarah is a chartered accountant with wide experience in banking and capital markets having worked with EY in both London and New York. She also has experience in building business, having worked at an early stage internet company and in various roles within the venture capital industry. IAN FITZHARRIS, MARKETING DIRECTOR Ian is a businessman and chartered accountant who built Euro Sales Finance into a market leading European commercial finance business that was the first fund raising on the AiM, listed on the LSE, and was sold to a global banking group. DAVID TOTNEY, SALES DIRECTOR David is a businessman with vast experience in the asset based lending market who founded Liquidity, a regional commercial finance business that he sold to Santander in 2009 to establish their UK asset based finance division. JEAN-FRANCOIS DIAZ, TECHNOLOGY DIRECTOR Jean-François, who built URICA s proprietary platform, is one of Europe s leading technology architects in the commercial finance space having built platforms for both GE in France and Euro Sales Finance. Page 14
RICHARD RAMSAY, NON-EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN Richard is a highly experienced non-executive chairman with broad experience in financial services, investment banking, commerce and government where he was Managing Director of Regulation and Financial Affairs at Ofgem, the gas and electricity regulator. FRANK BLIN, NON-EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR Frank is the former Chairman of PWC Scotland and was also a member of their European board. He was the co-initiator of the Entrepreneurial Exchange that nurtures emerging business talent and is the Prince s Ambassador for Scottish Business in the Community. GRANT FRASER, ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR Grant previously worked for IBM as a Technical Operations Manager and SAP Consultant. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from University of Strathclyde. ADAM LAURIE, DIRECTOR SCOTLAND Adam was with Bank of Scotland for 20 years, latterly as a Senior Director in the energy and environmental division, and before as a director in their asset based finance business. He has an MBA in business from Long Island University (Brooklyn).
THE OLD SYSTEM DOESN T WORK
HOW DOES URICA DIFFER FROM DEBT OR INVOICE DISCOUNTING? URICA Early Payment Platform Invoice Discounting Better Business Terms for Customers and Suppliers? Benefits flow to both, the supplier benefits from early cash against invoicing, whilst the customer increases the resilience of their supply chain and can enjoy extended credit at no cost. Invoice factoring, rightly or wrongly, carries a stigma, that s why it s often confidential from the customer. And there are no benefits for the customer, only risks. Cash not Debt Cash provides the confidence for growth, reducing debt in the supply chain and reducing the inherent risk to both supplier and customer. Invoice discounting is short term debt by another name. The supplier is encouraged to take on ever increasing levels and increased debt equals increased risk at both ends of the supply chain. Security None, the supplier simply sells invoices to the platform, invoiceby-invoice. With debt or invoice discounting, the supplier will be required to give a charge over its entire business, sign up to personal guarantees, and be bound by banking covenants that can trigger immediate notice. Cost The supplier agrees a small discount (typically 85 to 250 on a 10,000 invoice) only when they ask for early payment. And that s it. There are no fees for the customer. Arrangement fees, annual fees, administration fees, transaction fees, interest, and break fees are all the norm. And are payable whether financing is required or not. Ease of use URICA is a real-time on line platform that allows suppliers and customers to connect and trade openly. It s entirely ancillary and nondisruptive to existing banking arrangements. And suppliers only ask for early payment when they need it. Invoice discounting is a whole turnover arrangement with a lockup of 12 months (as the norm). It requires the supplier to overhaul their financial arrangements and go through a prolonged credit process and frequent audits. Page 17
WHAT THEY SAY ABOUT US A story about putting Britain back on its feet It s a new common sense solution that should be part of any business toolkit. Lord Digby Jones Chairman of Triumph Motorcycles. Former Director-General CBI & UK Minister of State for Trade & Investment. I personally think it s brilliant. We at SomeOne are signing up to it to ensure all the photographers, illustrators, model makers, printers and creative suppliers we use are able to avoid cash-flow issues. Cashflow kills many small businesses. The creative industries often feel it the worst, generally being at the bottom of a supplier chain. If the big oil company wants a small design boutique to wait three months to get paid then that little boutique needs to find a way to survive those three months. Without a healthy cash-flow the boutique might need to get into expensive debt with banks. It s not just money to get that debt the owners of the boutique probably need to risk losing their homes if things go wrong it s serious stuff. With URICA, even if your payment terms are over 60 days, you can get paid tomorrow. No debt. Just cash. No risk. No bad feelings. It s REALLY simple. You can t quite believe it hasn t been thought of before. Simon Manchipp SomeOne Co-founder Page 18
CONTACT US URICA SOMERSET HOUSE STRAND LONDON WC2R 1LA +44 (0) 20 7193 7616 WWW.URICA.COM Page 19
BUSINESS ON BETTER TERMS. URICA