Machine check · UK manufacturers
How much new plant can your balance sheet carry?
Before you sign for a new machine, I read your filed accounts and tell you where the purchase lands. Paid from cash or on hire purchase, and where the limit sits for each.
- Filed accountsread from Companies House, each figure traced to its tag in the filing
- Three testscash above zero, short-term debts covered, equity in line with similar UK manufacturers
- Cash or hire purchaseboth worked out side by side, with the limit for each
- Graz, AustriaI work in English and by e‑mail, one hour ahead of the UK
01For whom
Owners with a machine on the list
This is for owner-managed manufacturers in the UK with total assets under about £4m. Usually there is a quote on the desk for a machine, a press or a new line. You know it would pay its way. What you want to know is how much of it the business can take on, and whether to pay from cash or on hire purchase.
Your accountant looks at the year that has closed, and your broker arranges the finance. I look at the question in between. I sell no finance and take no commission.
02What you get
Two steps, the first one free
The first read costs nothing. Tell me the rough cost of the machine and how you would expect to pay for it. Within one working day I reply with where it lands against the limits of your last filed balance sheet.
The check goes one step further. If the machine sits close to a limit, I work it through with your own figures.
- Cash, hire purchase or a mix, compared after taxusing the finance quote you have in hand
- The hours a year below which the machine stops payingso you can set it against your order book
- The limits from your balance sheet, updated for the dealwith every figure traced to its source
A worked example
This is the note I attach to my first e-mail. It is built from the last accounts a company filed at Companies House.
In this case the balance sheet carries up to about £47k of new plant paid from cash. On hire purchase with a 10% deposit, the limit rises to about £470k. The table below the headline shows what happens to a £500k purchase under four ways of paying.
The note leaves out interest, debt service, a minimum cash balance and any unused bank lines. Those need your own figures, and that is what the check adds.
Open the example PDF, 2 pages, 128 KB03How we start
One reply is enough
The first read is free and commits you to nothing. If you want the check, you know its fixed price before I start.
- 1
You reply with two figures.
The rough cost of the machine and how you would expect to pay. A few lines by e‑mail are enough.
- 2
Within a working day you hear where it lands.
Against the limits for cash and for hire purchase, free of charge.
- 3
If it is close, you can ask for the check.
Send the finance quote and the hours you expect the machine to run.
- 4
Within three working days you have the answer.
Which way of paying comes out ahead after tax, and the volume below which the machine stops paying.
04Write to me
Is a machine on your list?
Reply to my e-mail or write to the address below. I answer in person, by the next working day.
kontakt@sebastian-knorr.comThe check reads what a balance sheet can carry. It is not a credit opinion. Your accountant and your lender keep the last word.