For our next interview, we have the pleasure of sitting down with Nick Stern, Senior Funding Partner at TSF Finance. Nick has been in the industry for over 18 years in advisory, a decade of which was focused on corporate turnaround, business optimisation and corporate finance (encompassing debt advisory).

210705-TSF_002031. What led you into this career?

I worked in global restructuring, encompassing debt advisory at a global top tier advisory firm, before moving into corporate finance and lead advisory. To me, it was a natural fit to use these skills to provide a differentiated approach to broking.

 

2. What does a typical day in your role look like at TSF Finance? 

My typical day usually involves strategic conversations with business owners to assist them in understanding how a proper finance package can assist them to deliver on their growth aspirations. I also spend a portion of my day keeping up to date with industry news and liaising with my referrer network.

 

3. What attracted you to working for TSF Finance? 

Alan and the team at TSF share my ethical compass and my desire to provide quality advisory services to my clients. At TSF, we focus on supporting our clients to understand the finance landscape and to navigate the wide variety of products available in the market to ensure that they have the right debt package for their needs.

 

4. How do you think you've made a difference/will make a difference at TSF Finance? 

I bring with me almost two decades of advisory experience, which I use to support clients with their wider strategic decision making. I am able to assist clients to see the bigger picture and to make informed strategic decisions, allowing them to understand the various financial and operational levers that they have available to them in order to deliver on their plan. 

 

5. What’s one thing that’s surprised you working at TSF? 

The team ethos and culture. Everyone in the team is supportive, genuine and hard working. Every member of the team supports each other. 

 

6. What’s a work-related accomplishment you’re really proud of?

Assisting a client of mine to secure £5m in real estate bridge funding during the pandemic and being part of the team when we won the NAFCB Invoice Finance Broker of the Year award. 

 

7. Non-work-related accomplishment?

Being a proud dad of two incredible little rascals!

 

210705-TSF_012148. In your opinion, what makes TSF Finance stand out from its competitors?

At TSF we have many years of combined lender side and advisor side experience, which allows us to truly understand the credit quality of our clients and assist them in crafting a proper credit appraisal that can stand up to lender’s credit committee review. This provides lenders with comfort that we have properly thought through the credit requirements and goes above and beyond what lenders expect to see from a broker. This allows us to link our clients to the right lenders and focus our efforts on ensuring that we deliver their required financing package.

 

9. What upcoming trends/news/updates in your industry do you think will likely impact the industry in the next five years?

It is my view that interest rates are likely to rise over the next 12 months and as the Government’s COVID support package falls away, businesses are going to find themselves exposed to increased staff costs and real estate related expenditure. Couple this with the requirement for businesses to continue to repay their cost deferrals that have accumulated during the pandemic, the pressure on cash resources is likely to become very real. With these costs likely to increase before the benefits of increased productivity flow through to their associated cash inflows, there is a risk that businesses will find themselves with a working capital shortfall in the short term, even if profitability has been maintained.

 

10. In the current climate, what advice can you give to business owners with regards to their funding challenges?

Now is the time for business owners to start considering the shape of their finance. It is worth considering whether invoice finance might be a way to support an uptick in revenue generation and cover a working capital transition period or maybe some fixed-term permanent capital is required to trade through a period of increased cots before revenue catches up. Cost of debt is also likely to rise and inflation is also expected to increase over the near term, therefore now might be the time to consider fixing rates where possible for the next few years to provide some interest rate security and mitigate exposure to an increased cost of borrowing, as well as insulating your business in the short term from the impact of inflation on asset acquisition.

 

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