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Case study, Featured

In this use case, find out how MTP, a leading manufacturer of high-quality capital goods, specializes in industries such as aerospace, automotive and industrial manufacturing.

What are MTP’s risks if it doesn’t have credit insurance? What does it risk in the event of default and non-payment by one of its strategic customers?

◆ What is the context of the MTP company?
◆ What are the risks for the MTP company?
◆ How does the UNLOCK MULTI solution work?






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Market Study, Featured

The landscape of automotive innovation has shifted over time. Since the invention of the automobile over a century ago, Europe played a pioneering but today has no longer its position of prominence.

Indeed, in the early 2000s, China decided to go electric. But it’s only in 2015 the European Continent began its transition, confronted with:

→ Volkswagen Emissions Scandal (Dieselgate),

→ Rising Environmental Concerns and the Paris Climate Agreement.

So today, the landscape for electric vehicles (EVs) is evolving, bringing both economic and political challenges.


According to IEA, the surge in electric car sales during 2023 is impressive:

Electric car sales are neared 14 millions.

◆ The total electric car stock reached 40 million.

◆ This growth represents a 35% year-on-year increase compared to 2022.

◆ The 2023 figure is over 6 times higher than the electric car sales recorded in 2018.

95% of which were: in China, Europe and the United States.




Compared with Western brands, Chinese EVs are more affordable. According to the European Commission, in the EU, Chinese EVs typically sell for 20% less than EU-made models.

After a 9-month investigation, the European Commission believes that China is infringing World Trade Organization rules, and has therefore decided to apply countervailing duties from 4th July, on imports of made-in-China vehicles of up to 38%, compared with the current 10%. Chinese BEV producers benefit from significant state subsidies, posing a threat to EU manufacturers.

The EU’s intervention follows the US’s decision to raise tariffs on Chinese electric cars from 25% to 100% a few weeks ago.

In a move aimed at ensuring fair competition and protecting its automotive industry, this new imposition of provisional countervailing duties on imports of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) from China, could spark a trade war. Indeed, Beijing has threatened to retaliate against European aviation, farmers and spirits makers.




So, both sides agreed to negotiate a possible compromise and have decided to engage in negotiations regarding planned import taxes on Chinese electric vehicles (EVs) in the European market.

These regions play critical roles in shaping the future of EVs. So it’s important for the EU to underscore the need for fair competition, environmental goals and strategic negotiations and avoid a trade war or economic retaliations, which would have repercussions for companies in the automotive sector, but not only

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Case study, Featured

In this case study, find out how a machine tool supplier, INDEX, limited its exposure to the risk of non-payment following the acceptance of a new order from its customer PEI, by integrating Unlock Focus as an additional solution to its credit management procedures.

 

◆ What is INDEX’s context?
◆ What are the risks for INDEX?
◆ How does the Unlock Focus solution work?




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Press Area, Featured

On 2 May, Cartan Trade announced the appointment of Sébastien Guidoni as its new CEO. With over 23 years’ experience in transformation and acceleration acquired in a wide variety of roles within major insurance groups and start-ups, this appointment promises to accelerate growth and open up new perspectives for the company









Sébastien Guidoni shares Cartan Trade’s new roadmap with us.

When I joined Cartan Trade a few months ago as COO, and now as CEO, I was impressed by how quickly the company has grown after just 2 years in existence and by the strong commitment of the teams, whom I would like to thank once again. The performance of the first start-up phase has been remarkable and market demand has exceeded our expectations.

Cartan Trade is now firmly established in four major European markets: France, the United Kingdom, Italy and the Benelux countries. The company is led by a solid team, ready to support its future growth.

Our mission is to democratise credit insurance by offering our customers, whatever their size, additional cover to secure their growth by transferring part of the risk of payment default by their buyers.

Market traction is strong and our pipeline is well-stocked with more than €10 billion cover committed, which gives me confidence in our ability to succeed in 2024. The new roadmap for the coming years has been validated by our shareholders, who have thus renewed their confidence in the project.

After this initial start-up phase, our current challenges are those of a company in a scale-up phase that is planning to grow over the next 3 to 4 years. Our ambition is to build a platform that can simultaneously control its growth, its claims ratio and its EBITDA, with the stated aim of demonstrating the scalability of our model.

Together with my Comex colleagues Alice de Brem (Sales and Marketing), Christophe Pennellier (Risk, Claims & Collection) and Julien Madec, who joins us at the beginning of July as CFO, we will have to constantly choose how to use our resources effectively to invest in the company in a sustainable way.

We also intend to strengthen our teams. Recruiting new talents will be essential, in all our business areas – sales, risk, finance – but also in data, where we aim to build an innovative and agile ecosystem.

Data is an area I know well. Building an ecosystem by coordinating several solutions requires effort. Although it’s still a little early to talk about it, data will play an increasingly important role at Cartan Trade. 

To lead the development in Europe, Cartan Trade’s Executive Committee is supported by a strong Leadership team. It is made up of our regional directors: Anne Smadja for France, Matthew Wells for the United Kingdom, Paolo Cioni for Italy, and Xander Nieuwenhuijsen supported by Alice de Brem for the Benelux countries, as well as Gael Umano, deputy Head of Risk. With their teams, they are committed to developing Cartan Trade in their respective markets, supporting our customers and brokers locally in their day-to-day challenges and building sustainable portfolios.

Our priority is to continue our international development in our 4 markets before considering new expansions. Major product innovations are also in the pipeline and will be unveiled in due course.

I am convinced that Cartan Trade has all the necessary pillars to demonstrate the scalability of its model and thus convince many uninsured companies to place their trust in us.

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Featured, Market Study

Pharmaceutical Industry

The Covid-19 pandemic thrust the pharmaceutical industry into the spotlight, intensifying the pressure to deliver swift results. Since, companies faced a host of challenges.

The pharma’s role within the healthcare system is weakening due to:

–  A sudden surge in demand which encourages research and development, but that implies high financial burden

–  Economic strains,

– Suffocating regulatory change.

To remain profitable, pharmaceutical companies need to change their operational strategy as the industry faces new challenges. This is what LloydsPharmacy, once the 2nd largest pharmacy chain in the UK, did but faced with a cliff edge.

LloydsPharmacy, which was founded in 1973, had a significant potential.


Ownership history:

Over the past decade LloydsPharmacy (Clinical Homecare, LloydsDirect, Lloyds Online Doctor and a wholesale AHH) had many owners.

– In 1973, Lloyds Chemist began when Allen Lloyd purchased his 1st pharmacy in Polesworth (UK).

– In 1997, LloydsPharmacy was purchased by Celesio AG and merged with Celesio’s existing UK subsidiary, AAH Pharmaceuticals, forming a network of 1300 pharmacies.

– In 2014, the american healthcare company McKesson acquired Celesio AG, becoming the parent company of LloydsPhharmacy along with its other units: LloydsPharmacy Clinical Homecare, LloydsDirect, Lloyds Online Doctor, and a wholesale arm called AHH.

– In April 2022, McKesson’s UK businesses, including LloydsPharmacy, the wholesaler AAH, and a travel health service, were purchased by the Aurelius Group for £477m.


Transforming the company:

LloydsPharmacy became an omnichannel company platform. This strategy was validated with the significant growth across its online offering during the pandemic.

After the purchase by Aurelius Group, as a result, LloydsPharmacy joined the Hallo Healthcare Group, the holding company brand name for some of the UK’s most renowned healthcare organizations.

So, how did a business which had 1,338 stores at the end of 2022, just a over year later disappear from the high street.

LloydsPharmacy began to exit the pharmacy market, since 2017 due to:

– Government funding cuts

– Higher operating costs.


The chain swung to a pre-tax loss of £148m in the year to 31 March 2017.

The closures began in 2017 and continued with 17 stores in 2018, 60 in 2019, 76 in 2021 and 41 in 2022.

According to the Companies House, for the year ending March 31, 2022, Lloyds Pharmacy recorded further losses, with:

– operating losses worsening from £-35m to £-57m,

– net losses of £-66m, down from £100.8 million the previous year.

The company stepped up its « rationalization program » in 2023. In October 2023, the chain was running 138 pharmacies, compared with 1,338 pharmacies in March 2022 (-90%), according to the figures of General Pharmaceutical Council (CPhC).

In July 2015, LloydsPharmacy purchased all 281 pharmacies in Sainsbury’s supermarkets for £125 million but decided to close all in January 2023.

Liquidation:

LloydsPharmacy filed for voluntary liquidation and blamed the cut in government funding for its widening losses and the reason behind its store rationalization program. 

In 2023, the chain ceased trading, with pharmacy staff transferred to their stores’ new operators.

In the statement of affairs report, the liquidators (Martin Armstrong and Andrew Bailey of Turpin Barker Armstrong Accountants) revealed that the pharmacy business owed £293m to 514 creditors, including:

– £228m owed to Diamond DCO One Limited /Lloyds Pharmacy,

– £50m owed to Aurelius Crocodile, a holding company used to control the business.

However, the financial documents show that as LloydsPharmacy had just £8.2m at its disposal to pay off its debts.

As a conclusion The pharmaceutical industry has faced challenges in recent years:

Low Margins & Diversification

Due to low margins on medications, pharmacies are expanding their offerings to include non-prescription products (parapharmacy). But this expansion requires additional investments.

Competition Risks & Regulation

In fact, the distribution of medications is deregulated, allowing mass-market retailers to enter the sector. It will intensify competition for pharmacies

LloydsPharmacy serves as a notable example. Today, the pharmaceutical industry will need to anticipate these risks and protect itself against the risk of non-payment.

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Solutions, Featured

Gaining new markets, especially export markets, is a unique opportunity to develop your sales. But it’s not without risk for your company.

Starting a business relationship with a new customer, or increasing your sales with an existing one, requires special care and the implementation of “safeguards”.

Whether it’s an existing customer or a new one, when you’re dealing with an international customer, the financial information is more complex to obtain, the dunning and collection procedures more sensitive, and your knowledge of the economic environment murkier.

This is especially true as international payment terms extend over longer periods. This is a risk you need to be aware of before taking on a new market.




Transferring the risk

However, there are effective solutions for transferring this risk to a credit insurer, offering essential protection for the sustainable growth of your company.

Unlock Focus allows you to benefit from complete support including information, risk monitoring, credit limit stability and collection, to secure a key transaction for your company. By opting for Cartan Trade’s Unlock Focus contract, your company is protected against the insolvency of the end buyer.

In the event of bankruptcy of the buyer during the period of manufacturing or in the event of non-payment of the goods on the due date of the invoice, your company is swiftly compensated by Cartan Trade, thus preserving your cash flow.

Being insured against unpaid invoices also gives your company the opportunity to benefit from optimised financing. Indeed, lending organisations are often more inclined to grant loans or credit lines when a transaction is covered by credit insurance.

Discover all the advantages of Cartan Trade’s Unlock Focus solution

In a nutshell, transferring the risk of non-payment to a credit insurer is an effective solution to increase your turnover with peace of mind in an unpredictable commercial environment, while protecting your company from financial losses due to customer non-payment. More info about Unlock Focus.

Unlock Focus is also available in a ‘Multi’ version to cover your outstanding amounts on your strategic customers, on a revolving basis over 12 months or in the event of business peaks when your internal credit limit is reached.

Discover Unlock Multi


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Launched 2 years ago and led by Eric Lenoir, Cartan Trade has established itself in the credit insurance market by adding capacity through a new, simplified, innovative and relevant product offering.

This project was completed in record time. Cartan Trade now has a solid, recognised team, with proven credibility in France, Benelux, Italy and the United Kingdom.

Today, Cartan Trade is opening a new chapter in its history with an ambitious new plan for the coming years.


In this context, the Board has decided to appoint Sebastien Guidoni, COO for the past 6 months, as CEO of Cartan Trade.
Sébastien’s mission will be to complete the acceleration phase of Cartan Trade with the challenge of successfully scaling it up.







Sébastien already knows Cartan Trade well and brings over 23 years’ experience in transformations and accelerations acquired in a wide variety of situations within major insurance groups and start-ups. Experienced in both sales and technical & financial management, he has demonstrated in multicultural contexts his ability to articulate, accelerate and deliver ambitious projects in an entrepreneurial way. His approach, both pragmatic and human-oriented, is driven by the desire to build diverse, complementary, and effective teams. 

 

Cartan Trade teams are ready to take on their new challenges (continuing to promote the sales dynamic, maintaining & strengthening underwriting discipline, encouraging & steering profitability while continuing to invest in technology & teams) with the reaffirmed support of its shareholders and individual partners, all of whom are fully committed to supporting the project.


The shareholders and Board members would like to thank Eric Lenoir for his key contribution and express their full confidence in Sébastien Guidoni, and the Cartan Trade’s team to carry out their missions successfully.

New CEO – Press release

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Solutions, Featured

Did you know? Credit insurance policies include certain options to maximize your indemnification in the event of non-payment by your customers. At Cartan Trade, we’ve developed flexible contracts with clear, easy to understand options to enable you to take out the cover you really need.

Here’s an overview of the options available, to cover the different financial risks of your business, depending on the organization of your manufacturing and distribution chain. Contact us for more details or speak with your broker!





Political risk coverage:
if yo ur company exports, you may be exposed to political risk, to a greater or lesser extent depending on the countries you export to. What is this type of risk? Political risk arises when the government of a country prevents your customer from fulfilling its contractual commitments.
There are several cases that can be considered as political measures. For example, the enactment of a law blocking the transfer of currency or the conversion of local currency into the contract currency, an embargo on certain goods, or the declaration of war or conflict in your buyer’s country, preventing payment of your invoice.

Cover for disputed receivables:  in credit insurance contracts, unpaid invoices resulting from a dispute between you and your customer are subject to suspension of compensation, until the claim is recognized (amicably or legally). With Cartan Trade, you can take out an option to receive indemnification for the disputed receivable, as well as the legal and other costs involved in handling the claim, while the dispute is being resolved, within the credit limit in place.

Binding contracts: This option cover binding contracts entered into with your customers, that commit you to future deliveries. In the event of a deterioration in their financial situation, your cover is maintained until the end of your binding contract period. This provision enables you to secure your cash flow through compensation in the event of non-payment at the end of the contract.

Pre – Dispatch: The deterioration in the financial situation of one of your buyers, or even their filing for insolvency, can occur at any time during the business relationship. In some cases, default may occur after you’ve committed to a new production run, whether customized or not.


Taking out credit insurance not only protect you against unpaid invoices from your customers, but also gives you the possibility of being reimbursed for your costs of manufacturing the goods prior to delivery. By taking out the manufacturing risk option, the production costs of undelivered, non-reusable goods are included in the claim calculation.

Cartan Trade’s experts are available, along with your broker, to answer your questions and study your specific needs to secure your business development. Contact Us for more information!

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Case study, Featured
In this use case you will find :


Why do IT wholesalers need additional capacities?
What are the advantages of Cartan Trade’s solution Top Up products?
How does the Unlock Plus solution work?


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Featured, Solutions

Protecting your business against non-payment is of crucial importance for many companies in Europe. By granting payment terms of 30, 60, 90 days, or even more, depending on the country of export, companies expose themselves to a risk of non-payment that could weigh heavily on their balance sheet. This risk is traditionally covered by a credit-insurance policy.

Credit-insured companies therefore seek to obtain the best possible coverage rate, i.e. the proportion of outstanding covered by their policy. Extended coverage enables them to accelerate their business development: accept a major new order from a prospect, expand their business relationship with a regular customer, cover peaks in activity, or optimize invoice financing to boost their investment capacity.

Being well covered also makes it easier to accept internal risk-taking without having to mobilize significant equity capital… and it also means better compensation in the event of non-payment.

Cartan Trade offers a complementary credit insurance solution to increase the acceptance rate of your outstanding receivables. This “Top up” solution supplements the cover provided by your primary credit insurer, when the latter is unable to provide full coverage of your receivables.





Unlock Plus, the Top up solution from Cartan Trade

All companies already credit-insured, with a turnover in excess of €10 millions, can benefit from the many advantages of Unlock Plus:

 

Tripling your cover: With Unlock Plus, you can triple the cover obtained on the primary policy, accelerating your commercial development and reinforcing your company’s protection in the event of non-payment. Your primary insurer’s refusals are analyzed and revised on a personalized basis.

Enhanced visibility: You benefit from the insights of our experts, complementary to those of your primary insurer, in managing your risks. This improved visibility on buyers enables you to fine-tune your internal decision-making rules before delivering or accepting new orders.

Dedicated Risk Underwriter : For each credit limit request on your buyers partially covered or refused by the primary insurer, we update and analyze the information on their financial situation, before granting you a cover enabling you to triple the primary limit.


Portfolio monitoring: Cartan Trade closely monitors your buyer portfolio: you are immediately alerted if the financial health of your buyers deteriorates. Regular meetings are also organised with your broker and your dedicated risk underwriter to discuss your strategic issues with your clients.

“When you place your trust in Cartan Trade, you benefit from the sector-specific expertise of a team on a human scale. Each Unlock Plus customer is accompanied by a dedicated risk underwriter who regularly discusses with the financial departments and their broker, to provide concrete solutions to their risk problems, according to Hugo Poinsot, risk underwriter at Cartan Trade. 

Improving coverage without complexity

And because at Cartan Trade we know how important ease of management is to our customers, the Unlock Plus contract has been designed to follow the operation of the primary contract:

Contract conditions are aligned with your primary policie, to make it easier to use your credit insurance solution.

In the event of unpaid invoices, your usual contacts remain unchanged: the collection of overdues remains centralized by the primary insurer.

Cartan Trade compensates you as soon as the primary insurer has paid its indemnity.

Your premium is invoiced on the basis of guaranteed limits, so there’s no need to send us your turnover declaration

With Unlock Plus, everything is clear. “We have developed an innovative contract, with a billing principle as close as possible to our customers’ needs: thanks to our “Pay per Approved Limits” system, insurance premium billing is based on the actual limits issued by Cartan Trade. The budget allocated to the contract is perfectly predictable, so there are no surprises,” explains Vladimir Malenic, Commercial Underwriter at Cartan Trade.

Don’t wait any longer to ask your broker for an Unlock Plus quote! 

It’s easy to get a quote: you send us, via your broker, a list of your buyers to test the coverage of your portfolio.  Our experts analyze the financial health of each company and decide on an amount of coverage per buyer.
We then send you a quote detailing your coverage and the features of your contract. If you agree, your contract is activated in a matter of moments.
You can develop your sales with complete peace of mind!



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