Import & supply chain
Trade Finance for Importers of Medical and Dental Equipment
Pay overseas manufacturers on their terms without draining working capital, and bridge the months between a supplier deposit and a customer settlement.
The proposition
The gap between paying a factory and being paid by a customer
Overseas manufacturers of dental chairs, imaging systems, instruments and consumables generally want payment before shipping, or a substantial deposit at order. UK customers expect thirty to sixty days. Between those two positions sits a cash gap that has stopped many capable distributors from scaling.
Trade finance funds that gap directly. The facility pays the supplier — by documentary letter of credit, documentary collection or direct settlement — and is repaid when your customer pays, or when an invoice finance facility takes over on delivery.
For the supplier, a confirmed letter of credit from a UK bank frequently unlocks better unit pricing and shorter lead times than a wire transfer ever will. The facility can pay for itself on the purchase price alone.
Instruments
How the facility is put together
Trade finance is a toolkit rather than a single product. Most healthcare importers end up with two or three instruments working together across the order cycle.
Where goods are being drop-shipped or held in a bonded warehouse, stock finance can extend the funding period until the goods are actually sold rather than merely landed.
- Documentary letters of credit, confirmed where the supplier requires it
- Import loans settling supplier invoices in GBP, EUR or USD
- Purchase order finance against confirmed end-customer orders
- Stock and inventory finance covering goods in transit and in warehouse
- Forward currency contracts to fix the landed cost at order
- Back-to-back structures where you buy and resell without holding stock
Client outcomes
What it makes possible
Order at the right volume
Container-load pricing instead of part-load pricing, because the order size is no longer limited by the cash in the account.
Landed cost fixed at order
Currency hedging alongside the facility removes exchange movement between order and delivery, protecting the quoted margin.
Supplier terms improve
A confirmed letter of credit gives a factory certainty of payment, which is routinely worth a discount and a shorter lead time.
At a glance
Indicative terms
- Facility size
- £50,000 to £5m, revolving. Sized on order flow and end-customer quality.
- Funding period
- 60 to 180 days per transaction, covering manufacture, shipping and customer terms.
- Advance
- Up to 100% of the supplier invoice where the end customer is creditworthy and the order confirmed.
- Currencies
- GBP, EUR and USD as standard; other currencies by arrangement.
- Security
- Usually a debenture plus assignment of the underlying goods and receivables.
- Combined with
- Almost always paired with invoice finance so the receivable repays the trade facility on delivery.
Related funding lines
Questions
Trade Finance — frequently asked questions
For purchase order finance, yes — the funder is lending against a specific end-customer order and needs sight of it. A general import loan or letter of credit line is more flexible and can fund stock purchases without a matching sale, though the facility will be smaller and priced accordingly.
It can, but it is rarely the best route for a practice buying for its own use. A direct purchase on asset finance is normally cheaper and simpler. Trade finance earns its place where you are buying to resell, or importing repeatedly across the year.
Most trade facilities sit alongside a foreign exchange arrangement, so you can fix the rate with a forward contract at the point of order. That converts an unknown landed cost into a fixed one and protects the margin you quoted to your customer months earlier.
Next step
Talk through your order cycle
Tell us who you buy from, on what terms, and who you sell to. We will map the funding gap and put the right instruments against it.
Prefer to write? Send an enquiry or email info@apexfundingpartners.co.uk.