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Major European domestic goods manufacturers are turning to a Sheffield-based debt recovery service to help them get bills paid in the Irish Republic.
P&A Receivable Services – part of the Sheffield-based leading UK independent insolvency and debt collection specialist, the P&A Group – has set up a specialist debt recovery service in Ireland to help household names such as Moulinex and Tefal tackle the increasing problem of unpaid bills.
A culture of late payment in the Irish Republic, combined with the impact of the recession and a different legal system has led to manufacturers and suppliers being forced to write off large debts.
In the first five months of 2010 there were 10,160 court judgements against Irish businesses – a 61 per cent increase on the first five months of 2009.
Meanwhile, the value of judgements has risen by 390 per cent, from €133,770,000 to €655,000,000, according to business credit publication Stubbs Gazette and recent research by Experian shows that last year southern Irish businesses settled their bills an average of 25 days beyond credit terms – five days slower than companies in Northern Ireland.
When senior credit and finance managers from major European domestic goods companies raised their concerns about bad debt in the Irish retail sector at a specialist credit forum hosted by P&A, the Sheffield firm decided to launch a new service based in Dublin to help producers and wholesalers recover money and assets from anywhere in the Irish Republic.
P&A believes this is the first time this type of service has been offered for a specific trade sector.
Laurie Beagle, divisional director of P&A Receivables, is the founder and chairman of several international credit forums, run by P&A, which bring together credit managers and others from corporates in diverse industrial sectors.
He said: "Our decision to operate a specialist service in Ireland is born out of a business need. The impact of the recession has hit Irish retailers hard with many going out of business.
"Forum members were feeling frustrated because the country's different legal system makes it hard to collect debts."
Debbie Carroll, credit manager for Groupe SEB UK, whose brands include Tefal, Rowenta and Moulinex, said: "To sue in Ireland is costly and the legal system is different and can be slow. We are finding that it can be a struggle to be paid on time.
"P&A's local presence will allow us to have a collective, cost effective approach to tackling late payment."
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