020 7898 0500In the plastics and rubber industry even the smallest margin can have an enormous knock-on effect on all areas of the business. This makes it vitally important to have an effective currency strategy in place in order to limit loss and allow focus to remain on maximising profit.
Imagro UK formed back in 2009 following the acquisition of LG International UK’s polymer division. As they specialise in importing polymers from the Far East and from across Europe, each month they need to transfer large sums of US dollars, sterling and euro to pay their various suppliers and offices around the globe. Only a few short years after inception, Imagro UK had established themselves as a major partner for the sales of LG Chemicals and a number of leading polymer producers. With this success came the need to implement an effective currency transfer strategy and that’s where Smart Currency Business could help.
Managing Director, Matthew Sydenham revealed how Imagro UK came to enlist Smart Currency Business’s services: “We weren’t getting great rates from any of the three or four banks that we were using back then and they were never able to tell us when our contracts would be finalised. This meant that it was a case of placing an order for a currency exchange and then sitting around, twiddling our thumbs and waiting with baited breath to discover what rate we had been lumped with when they finally got around to dealing with it. That just wasn’t going to work for us so after I was recommended Smart Currency Business by a contact; we got in touch and have been working with them for almost a year now”.
You might wonder how exactly Smart can help with the tight margins experienced throughout the supply manufacturing industry. Matthew continued: “We need to make sure that we’re constantly focused on limiting our losses. We do this by setting a target exchange rate for each month that we would like to achieve. If we have time, Alex Bennett, Head of Sales, will lock in the rate with a Forward Contract or he will watch the rate until it reaches a satisfactory level that we are happy to trade at”.
Matthew elaborated on Alex’s personal service: “Alex calls us regularly with interesting ideas about how he can help us further and how we can improve the ways that we operate. It’s good having someone like that working to help you. The proactive relationship management that we enjoy from Smart Currency Business is refreshing when you are used to encountering FX companies who are all about getting your business but who have no interest in dealing with you in the professional, efficient and accessible way that the Smart team do.”
