‘SMEs have less need for financing’, headlined the Financieele Dagblad in an article earlier this year. Positive news, but between the lines lies a problem that is not further discussed in the article, according to Sander Kamstra, director of Payt. You can read about the problem (and the corresponding solution) here.
The article, based on a report from CBS, states that from July 2018 to July 2019, only 47,300 SMEs were seeking financing. Of those, two-thirds actually decided to apply, and of those, 84% were ultimately approved, for a total of 22,700 companies. Based on this, CBS concludes that ‘most companies were very successful in generating enough money from cash flow for expansion, innovation, the vehicle fleet, or, for example, a business premises’. This conclusion is not substantiated in the article.
No need for financing, but a need for liquidity
“I see it differently,” says Kamstra. “The Netherlands has more than 240,000 SMEs, so if less than 20% of them need financing, then the rest (80%) are paying for growth out of their own pockets or not growing. Based on that, you can indeed say that the need for financing has decreased. However, that does not apply to the need for liquidity. As an SME, you want and need to have a good cash flow to finance growth or to convince a financier. If you don’t have that, you cannot grow.”
Kamstra continues: “My experience is that SMEs could really use some help with this, help that we can offer with Payt. We do this with an integrated solution, which focuses on reducing the outstanding balance and smartly using flexible credits. And that with as low a risk as possible for all parties and the lowest possible interest rate.”
25 billion
In the Netherlands, more than 4,000 SME companies use the debtor management software from Payt. Since the founding of Payt in 2013, they have collected over 60 billion in invoices with the help of the software, and that on average 30% faster than companies without Payt’s software.
