A ground breaking SME funding
model for Ireland.…
Finance for Companies (Ireland) Ltd
Corporate presentation
January 2014
Risk warning and disclaimer
This document has been prepared by and is the sole responsibility of Finance for Companies (Ireland) Ltd (the “Company” or
“Arranger”), for information purposes only and has been distributed by the Company to the Recipient. This document is not a
prospectus and does not constitute, or form part of, any offer or invitation to sell or issue, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase
or subscribe for, any shares, nor shall this document or any part of it, or the fact of its distribution, form the basis of, or be relied on
in connection with, any contract there for. The information contained in this document is subject to verification and update.
Some of the statements contained in this Proposal are forward looking statements. Forward looking statements include but are not
limited to statements concerning estimates as to values, fees, margins, commissions and other expense related issues which are not
historical facts. When used in this document any financial projections, including cash flow projections or internal rates of return, are
forward looking statements. Although the Company believes that expectations reflected in the forward looking statements are
reasonable, such statements involve risk and uncertainties and no assurance can be given that actual results will be consistent with
these forward looking statements. Various factors could cause actual results to differ from these forward looking statements since by
their very nature, forward looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties.
This document should not be distributed, directly or indirectly, into or to any resident of the United States of America (or any of its
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laws thereof, or in any other country outside the United Kingdom.
No representation or warranty, expressed or implied, is made or given by or on behalf of the Company or any of their respective
directors, officers, partners, employees or advisers or any other person as to the accuracy or the completeness of the information or
opinions contained herein and no responsibility or liability is accepted by any of them for any such information or opinions.
Notwithstanding the aforesaid, nothing in this paragraph shall exclude liability for any representation or warranty made
fraudulently.
This document is being provided to the Recipient solely for their information and by accepting this document the Recipient agrees
to keep permanently confidential any information contained herein or otherwise made available, whether oral or in writing, in
connection with the Proposal. This document is confidential and must not be copied, published, reproduced, distributed or passed
in whole or in part to others at any time, for any purpose, without the prior written consent of the Company.
What we do

Finance for Companies Ltd (“F4C”) assists high performance SMEs to raise funding (equity, debt
finance and/or mezzanine finance)

Through our sister company, Premier Non Executives Ltd (“PNE”) we can also fill the inevitable
skills gap with most SMEs by providing top quality Non Executive Directors (“NED”s)

The directors of F4C and PNE have significant experience (over 100 years) in both starting up
companies as well as in corporate finance advisory and fund management.

We have taken the best of crowd financing, angel investing, private equity and conventional
corporate finance models; added some of our own innovations to make this the most effective
solution for SME financing to date.

We engage with Venture Capital Trust’s (VCT’s) and other funds on a co-investment basis together
with some of the major retail banks to produce a structured financial solution for high performance
SMEs

We currently have coverage throughout the entire island of Ireland and the UK

Separately, we are in the process of raising our own funds (mezzanine / debt) to invest in high
performance SMEs
The business case
•
Estimated to be over 200,000 SME’s on the island of Ireland
•
94% of SME finance comes from Bank funding **
•
80% of SME Owner / managers looking for an alternative source of funding *
•
Equity finance is now a significant source for some SME’s **
•
Lack of balance sheet ‘’right sizing’’**
•
High level of credit appeals overturned by the CRO – 55% *
•
Source: *Department of Finance. Credit Survey May 2013 ** Access to Finance for growth for SME’s on the island of Ireland.Intertrade Ireland report Dec 2013
Why is there a need for a specialist in SME finance?
•
SMEs have always had difficulty in attracting growth/risk capital below €2m because:
 cost of due diligence is too high; and
 the lack of return versus the size of the investment
Both of which make an uneconomical investment proposition.
•
To date, it has been impossible to scale up the current investment process in order to achieve
the required economies of scale combined with a satisfactory spread to mitigate risk
•
F4C sources risk capital through retail banks and debt / equity funds together with director
level skills via their online network of experienced directors/investors
•
The Government recognises that given the current state of the Irish economy, driving growth
is very much a high priority and that the SME sector is where the growth will start
•
F4C addresses this problem as a ‘Risk Capital Broker’ by sourcing risk capital as well as debt
solutions for SMEs……….
Competition – The Business Angel networks
•
Business Angels are frequently ‘passive’ investors who have invested as a result of an
investment proposal or investment memorandum (“IM”)
•
This IM will be produced by a corporate financier who will have:
•
•
•
•
Taken time to filter and select a business to promote
Then undertaken the appropriate due diligence
Prepared a public document for which he will have taken responsibility
Circulated the document to his network who may or may not like the proposal
•
All of this is costly in terms of overhead, has a long lead time and has no guarantee of success
•
Furthermore the average Angel Network will probably not undertake any more than 12
transactions a year
•
It is not a scalable model and therefore has little impact on the Irish & UK SME
equity problem.
Competition – Crowd Funding
An excellent model but with some core issues:
•
Crowd funding is a regulated activity - some crowd funders are unregulated…
•
The concept is the sale of ‘sophisticated investments’ to ‘retail customers’ who may lack the
necessary experience to assess the risk of the investment
•
There have been few complete cycles of investment and so little is yet known of exit routes
•
Most importantly, it lacks the human assessment and involvement with the company something that we at F4C believe is crucial
•
Frequently, if you fail to reach the minimum investment, the funding process fails entirely
The F4C business concept 1 – Our network of Regional Directors
•
The core execution of the business revolves around our team of self-employed Regional
Directors (“RD”)
•
RDs are self employed and share fees and are therefore motivated to find a suitable funding
solution
•
All of the F4C RDs are either ex bank executives, corporate financiers or senior
businesspeople – all of whom have significant corporate experience and are able to assess
and advise on the suitability of a business for funding
•
Ireland has a team of RDs under CEO, Peter Greene which provides cover to the entire Island
of Ireland
The F4C business concept 2 - ‘Investing NEDs’

There are a considerable number of skilled executives who are currently out of work – most of whom
would welcome the opportunity to be a non executive director (“NED”)

The economic climate means that it is extremely difficult for these executives to find full or even part time
employment

By no means would these executives describe themselves as ‘Business Angels’ but could access €50k €100k for a suitably exciting business case that also provides a career opportunity.

Inevitably, they are attracted to businesses where they already have expertise and this in turn provides the
investee company with 3 upsides:
–
–
–
Critical appraisal of the business by a sector specialist
Enhancement of board expertise by the addition of a skilled non-executive director
Further equity funding

Within SMEs, NEDs frequently align their interests with those of the shareholders by subscribing for shares

This produces the concept of investing non executive directors, where the SME gains both cash as well as
strengthening of the board

This is a huge untapped market both in terms of people as well as a cash resource.
The F4C business concept 3 - Funding solutions
 We have an established relationship with all the major Retail Banks; debt funds and risk
capital funds and so F4C can assist a company to raise funds for such purposes as ;
 Working capital
 Debt restructure
 Asset finance or re-finance
 Debtor finance
 Trade finance
Why F4C is different
Finance for Companies is unique because:
•
We have taken the best of all the current funding methodologies, combined them and added
some of our own unique twists.
•
We use IT to gather data and people on the ground (our network of Regional Directors) to
both assess and broker a suitable financial package with the individual SME
•
We use our sister company Premier Non Executives Ltd to source suitably skilled people to
directly assist the SME
•
Unlike some other funding processes, the F4C model is infinitely scalable and at relatively low
cost.
•
We have an inclusive business model - we partner with investment funds, retail banks and
others to produce a total financial package
Conclusion
 Research shows that there are some 200,000 potential SMEs looking for funding that retail
banks cannot fully satisfy……
 We have taken the best of the current technology funding methods, added a key human
element and combined them into a completely new concept of business funding……
 The directors have considerable experience in corporate finance, banking and as
entrepreneurs – we understand the problem
 We are harnessing the huge unused capital of the ordinary businessman, as well as business
angels…….
 Using our solution the company gets:
– A dedicated Regional Director (Business mentor) to assist throughout the process
– Collegiate approach to bringing additionality through various funding partners
– A tailored funding package
– An experienced NED on the board where required
The Team
Peter L R Hewitt, JP, FCSI, FRSA (Chairman). Peter has enjoyed a varied and successful career over the last 35 years in property, company
direction and corporate finance. He has been Chairman or Director of some 9 public companies, where he was part of the start up, chairing 6
of these including 7 years as Chairman and CEO of a construction and fit out company which he founded and floated on AIM, exiting in 2004.
Subsequently, he established and sold two FSA authorised private client stock broking businesses. Peter is currently: Chairman of Proven
Planned Exit VCT PLC; a Non-Executive Director of Puma VII VCT PLC, both of which are listed on the Official List of the LSE; a Director of
London Asia Capital PLC; a director of Provident & Regional Estates Ltd; a member of the Project Merlin Business Finance Roundtable;
Alderman for the Ward of Aldgate in the City of London and Chairman of the City’s new £20m Social Investment Fund.
Peter Greene (CEO). Peter was a career banker with AIB Bank for 38 years in both Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland, firstly with
First Trust Bank where he rose to manage one of the top performing branches. From 2005 he was a Regional Director for AIB in the north
west of Ireland. There he was responsible for the management of 33 outlets which serviced 160,000 customers,many of them in the SME
sector. He also holds a Masters Degree in Business Improvement from the University of Ulster.
Fidelma M Hewitt (Director). Former AIM company director. ILEX and CIPD qualified. Fidelma has spent her career in the recruitment and
management of staff. She was Group HR Director for the Wigmore Group PLC which she helped turnaround from a company with no
employees to a company, quoted on AIM and with some 150 employees plus a further 300 sub-contractors. Fidelma is currently a part time
management consultant to Europe’s leading IT security company; on the advisory board of ConnectJet; a mentor with Mentorset; a mentor
with the Bright Ideas Trust.
Declan Kelleher (Regional Director) Former Regional Director with AIB Bank in Dublin and the North East of Ireland. Declan also held the role
of Head of SME Business within AIB and has over 35 years experience in the Retail side of the Bank. He brings a strong lending capability to
assist SME businesses who want to grow their business or who may be restructuring.
Seamus Corrigan (Regional Director) Seamus has almost 40 years experience with First Trust Bank in Northern Ireland. He managed the
largest Retail Branch in Northern Ireland before going on to become a Regional Director in Belfast. He brings a wealth of lending experience in
the SME sector and holds a Masters Degree in Business improvement.
Contacts
•
Peter Greene (Ireland) peter.greene@finance4companies.com 00353 8683 16878
•
Peter Hewitt (UK) -
peter.hewitt@finance4companies.com 0044 7710 908816
• Ireland – Unit 2010,The Innovation Centre,IT Sligo,Sligo
• UK - 1 Pump House Mews, Hooper Street, London E1 8AG
www.finance4companies.com