How a wholesale butchery used debtor and trade finance to close its cash flow gap
A retail and wholesale butchery had grown from four employees to a team of almost thirty, but its cash was leaving quicker than it was arriving. A large book of small debtors, creditors holding firm on tight terms and the arrival of Payday Super left a widening cash flow gap. Debtor and trade finance closed it, freeing working capital without slowing the business.
$500k
Debtor & Invoice Finance
$500k
Trade Finance
When this independent retail and wholesale butchery opened over a decade ago, it had four employees. Today it runs a team of over twenty, processing and supplying quality Australian meat products to retail and commercial customers across Northern NSW. Growth on that scale rarely arrives neatly, and for this business the pressure point was cash flow.
The challenge
The business showed the classic signs of a cash flow gap. On one side sat a large number of small debtors, many of them stretching their account terms. On the other sat a small number of creditors keeping a tight leash on theirs. Suppliers wanted paying promptly. Customers took their time.
That squeeze tightened with the introduction of Payday Super. Since 1 July 2026, Australian employers have had to pay superannuation at the same time as wages rather than quarterly, with contributions generally required to reach employees’ funds within seven business days. For a business the size of this meat supplier, the timing of one of its largest expenses moved from four times a year to every pay run.
“This was a growing business dealing with a mismatch between when suppliers had to be paid and when customers paid their accounts,” says Peter Sa of JPL Finance, the Connective broker who introduced the client to Octet. “Even with sound debtor management, that timing gap could not be removed simply by following up invoices.”
The solution
Octet structured a combination funding package: a $500,000 OctetDebtor facility (invoice finance) alongside a $500,000 OctetTrade facility.
OctetDebtor and OctetTrade working in tandem solve different halves of the same problem.
“The invoice finance has released cash already earned and sitting in their receivables, while the trade finance will fund the supplier payments going out. Together, they’re no longer waiting on incoming payment to afford their supplier costs.”
Rudy MesserschmidtDirector Working Capital Solutions, Qld & NT
This is where non-bank lending can provide an advantage. The facilities were built around how the business actually trades, what it’s owed and what it owes, rather than around what sits behind it on paper.
For the broker, the appeal was structure over rigidity. “The attraction was that the facilities matched the way the business operates,” Peter says. “Debtor finance provided access to cash tied up in invoices, while trade finance supported supplier payments and future purchases.”
The result
The OctetDebtor facility delivered an immediate benefit. It freed up cash so operating expenses could be met without waiting on customer payments to land, which proved especially valuable as Payday Super changed the timing of the wage bill.
The trade facility now does the forward-looking work. It has given the business the means to pay creditors within their timeframes, and is expected to support larger purchases as the business grows, opening the possibility of improved margins through better buying.
“Working capital shouldn’t be a handbrake on business growth,” Rudy says. “When a business can meet supplier payments on time and cover its own costs without watching the bank balance every morning, it starts making decisions based on opportunity rather than timing.”
For SMEs facing the same gap between money out and money in, pairing invoice finance with trade finance offers a practical route to steadier business finance without putting growth on hold.
Manufacturers, wholesalers, importers and distributors share the same underlying challenge: paying suppliers well before customers pay them. Connective Cashflow gives brokers a direct path to solving it - debtor finance, trade finance and term lending from a single working capital specialist.
If you're a Connective broker and have a client caught in the cash flow gap between supplier payments and customer receipts, book a meeting with your Connective Lending Manager or Connective Cashflow BDM, who can help structure the right cash flow solution.
Other brokers interested in partnering with Octet to explore cash flow solutions for their clients can read more about our flexible working capital facilities.
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Disclaimer: The above article content and comments are our views and should not be construed as advice. You should act using your own information and judgment. Although information has been obtained from and is based upon multiple sources the author believes to be reliable, we do not guarantee its accuracy and it may be incomplete or condensed. All opinions and estimates constitute the author’s own judgment as at the date of publication and are subject to change without notice.
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