IMI finance webinar tackles cash flow challenge for automotive sector

The latest webinar from the Institute of the Motor Industry (IMI) is set to address cashflow challenges that businesses are facing as a result of to the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak.

‘The Cash Flow Clinic’ webinar will be hosted at 2pm today (June 24) and has been tailored to answer the urgent business finance and cash flow questions facing organisations in the current pandemic.

The IMI identified the car retail sector’s “green shoots of recovery” in its analysis of Office for National Statistics (ONS) data last week, but said the marketplace remains “pretty fragile”.

The data revealed 28% of automotive business who are continuing to trade had reported turnover down by more than 50% in the period analysed.

Simon James, chief financial officer at the Institute of the Motor Industry, said: “The latest data from the ONS showed that there is definitely some turnaround in activity for the automotive retail sector.

“But there are still 6.3% of automotive businesses said that they either had no cash reserves or less than a month, potentially putting 5,300 businesses at risk. Managing cash flow at this difficult time is, therefore, more important than ever.”

The ‘The Cash Flow Clinic’ webinar will be hosted by Andrew Burn, partner and head of automotive at KPMG and Simon James, chief financial officer at the Institute of the Motor Industry (IM).

The topics covered will include:

• Managing your cost base and liabilities when cash is tight
• Managing your bank
• Managing your company financing
• Changes in legislation

The IMI said that the webinar is designed for automotive retail businesses of all sizes, from sole traders and SME owners to managers with profit and loss (P&L) responsibility in medium-sized and larger businesses.

The IMI launched a series of webinars in May to support automotive individuals and businesses throughout the coronavirus crisis.

To register for 'The Cash Flow Clinic', click here.