BUSINESS & CASH FLOW

SPENDING DOWNTURN A WORRY
Australian businesses are more worried about the drop in consumer spending than any other factor, according to a number of bank surveys. This comes on top of the last official statistics which show consumer confidence is now as gloomy as 43 percent believing there will be an economic downturn this year, a figure nearly twice as high as late last year. Consumers state rising prices and general gloom to be the main reasons. The AMP survey cites the dropping property prices as the biggest single factor. The present plummeting retail sales are expected to continue for the rest of the year.

RATES ON HOLD
In a rare comment on the situation, the RBA chief has said the current downturn will continue at a sustainable level and he expected any rate change to be on hold for some time.

SPENDING UPTURN FORECAST
And just to confuse everything, Commonwealth Securities insists spending will trend up in the second half of this calendar year due to strong employment, tax cuts and stable interest rates. Only the petrol price is a negative, according to that company’s own research. The predicted retail sales growth will drop to 4 percent.

THE OXFORD ADVANTAGE

DEBTOR FINANCE SOLVES RECRUITMENT WORKING CAPITAL PROBLEM

Recruitment and Labour Hire companies have a unique management problem - most have around 80 percent of expenses in wages and salaries. As people must always be paid on time, meeting that regular financial outlay is always difficult - whether starting from scratch or expanding.

“This unusual cost situation is why temporary labour hire companies are our biggest single customer,” says Oxford Funding’s Rob Lamers. “They have realised how our debtor financing is a perfect fit. These customers have used our products to either get a good start or grow or both.”

Oxford Funding has found the main benefit to such companies is getting paid against an invoice in 24 hours instead of waiting 28 days.

“These businesses have chosen Oxford Funding because of the way our service is so flexible and the way we step outside the normal strict industry methods,” says Lamers.

The flexibility provides two big advantages: