Siemens Financial Services has provided invoice finance for Wirral-based company Heap & Partners which manufactures and distributes fluid control equipment for customers in the chemical, water, oil and gas sectors.
Heap & Partners said it had been with its existing invoice financier for around two years but SFS won their business through more competitive pricing and more relevant service elements.
Diane Duffey, financial director, Heap & Partners, said: “We were undertaking a regular review of our finance providers to make sure that we were receiving the best rates when we were introduced to SFS’ invoice finance service. As well as the cost aspect, with our existing provider we were experiencing delays in notification of payments; a bill may have been settled but we sometimes wouldn’t receive confirmation in a timely manner. This created obvious difficulties for our customer relations.”
SFS met with Heap to understand its business, its goals and invoice finance requirements.
“As well as being offered a better price than our existing deal, the biggest attraction for us was the SFS system,” said Duffey. “It’s intuitive, offers complete transparency and has cut down on the time we have to spend reconciling our accounts.”
Stephen McKeag, head of sales – north west, invoice finance, Siemens Financial Services, said: “As Heap’s experience demonstrates, it is good practice for companies to regularly review their invoice finance providers and the service they are receiving. Although some business may be wary of changing providers, the change can be managed very smoothly and can result in saved time and money together with improved levels of support.”
