Centum

The Challenge

Centum had been experiencing growth in Ireland and the UK, while working on large scale data centre projects in Ireland and Mainland Europe. They had become disillusioned with the restrictions placed on them by their existing lender and approached Financefair to discuss providing a more flexible solution more suited to their funding needs.

Centum had set up new trading entities in Holland and Switzerland to facilitate new contracts in conjunction with their well-established business in Ireland. They required a funding partner that understood their business and the working capital requirements of their global operations. Financefair’s knowledge of the sector meant they recognised the quality of the work Centum provided and the premium nature of their clients.

Centum were providing highly skilled electricians to work on site in the Build phase of Data Centre construction across Ireland and mainland Europe. As the project ramped up, the requirement for labour increased, as did the weekly payment requirements. Centum staff were paid on a weekly payroll, with payments from the principal contractor operating a monthly invoicing schedule.

Overcoming the Challenge

As a labour intensive business, the answer was to leverage their staff members monthly completed worksheets in advance of long payment arrangements from the main contractor to assist with their working capital requirement.

Financefair initially structured a Selective Invoice Finance solution for Centum’s mainland Europe business, for a shorter-term funding requirement. We then provided Centum Ireland with a long-term funding solution using our Invoice Discounting product. Both solutions gave Centum the growth capital they required.