Australian exporter makes inroads into UK waste industry
Garwood International Pty Ltd, a Sydney-based designer and manufacturer of refuse compactors for the waste industry, has secured additional working capital to assist in satisfying UK demand for the company’s versatile, environmentally friendly products.
Export Finance and Insurance Corporation (EFIC), Australia’s export credit agency, has provided a financial guarantee to Garwood International’s bank, Westpac, to enable the bank to lend additional working capital funds to the exporter.
EFIC’s financial guarantee, known as EFIC Headway, enables eligible small and medium-sized exporters like Garwood International to access additional working capital from their bank, without requiring further security.
“We’ve been experiencing strong demand from UK clients for our highly manoeuvrable, fuel-efficient compactors,” said Garwood International’s managing director, Les McHugh. “Our exporting business now accounts for about 40 per cent of our total turnover.”
“The long cash flow cycle for our overseas contracts was placing strains on our working capital,” said Mr McHugh. “The EFIC Headway working capital guarantee has helped us deal with these cash flow constraints.”
From its Wetherill Park factory in Sydney’s west, Garwood International is manufacturing and supplying eight newly designed Dualpack compactors—with dual compartments for regular waste and recyclables—to North Tyneside Council in northern England. The contract value is A$1.3 million.
Garwood International has also recently supplied a Dualpack compactor to the Verdant Group in the United Kingdom, and Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council, just north of London, has purchased the company’s smaller Bantam compactor.
“Garwood International’s export success in the UK was outstripping the value of assets it could use to secure extra working capital for further growth,” said Angus Armour, EFIC’s managing director. “EFIC is delighted to support Garwood to enable it to realise its export growth potential.”
“Through the EFIC Headway working capital guarantee, EFIC works with Australia’s leading banks to help SME exporters overcome working capital shortfalls and achieve further international success,” said Mr Armour.