12 July 2008

No such thing as a free meal? Think again! For the last ten years specialist finance company Finlease has been providing exhibitors at the Sydney International Boat Show with a delicious cooked breakfast every morning. Finlease uses the BBQ of their houseboat office to cook up a storm before the show opens to the public each morning; expect the old favourite bacon, eggs and sausages plus recent arrivals like grilled haloumi cheese. Not only is it a great feed but it’s the perfect opportunity to network and catch up with friends.

‘At Sydney Show it’s actually a bit of celebration for us because it’s going to be our tenth year there, and the tenth year of our breakfasts…’ said Finlease principal Mark O’Donoghue.

‘We cook solidly from about 8.30am till about quarter to ten every morning. We go through 15 or 16 loaves of bread every morning, we feed literally hundreds.’

O’Donoghue commented that the reason that the breakfasts were so popular is that they are an ideal opportunity for exhibitors to relax before the crowds arrive. Finlease’s houseboat office acts as a kind of ‘comfort lounge’ for exhibitors where they can grab a hot cup of coffee, use the loo, chat to colleagues and start the day with a decent meal. It’s a particularly convenient pit stop for exhibitors who are based at the marina and have limited breaks during the day.

Every morning of the show the north eastern corner of the SIBS marina is crowded with boat detailers finishing their work for the day, sales people just about to start theirs, industry representatives and dealers. The smell of cooking wafts across the water and draws people like a magnet…

‘It’s a wonderful time. The breakfasts take about an hour or so every morning and we get to meet a lot of the exhibitors that we work with. And they get time to have a chat with the other exhibitors, so it’s a bit of a networking thing going on, a bit of a catch up.’

‘Everyone knows each other in this industry. It’s just a really nice sort of informal time before everyone heads off for the day.’

Finlease will also be at the Sanctuary Cove Boat Show (Thursday May 22nd to Sunday May 25th) though exhibitors will be disappointed to hear that the breakfasts are only at the Sydney International Boat Show (Thursday July 31st to Tuesday August 5th.).

Finlease will have a range of boat finance products available at both SIBS and Sanctuary Cove for anyone considering purchasing a charter or pleasure vessel. Finlease interviews the prospective client, quickly determines their particular loan requirements and searches out the best finance deal from over 20 finance providers.

Then it’s up to the client whether they choose to go ahead with the deal or not- if they decide not to go ahead, there is no charge for Finlease’s service.

The great advantage of bringing a boat show client to Finlease for finance is their fast turnaround on loan applications. Provided that the client is able to provide accurate and timely information, Finlease can have an answer from a finance provider within 24-48 hours.

‘A three to four minute conversation with one of my people is going to give them an indication of what sort of payments would be involved in the purchase and the likelihood of an approval…Provided that the credit history is all clean etc, in 85% of cases we can say to the client ‘if everything you’ve told me is correct, then you’ll be approved.’’

‘They can leave us with great confidence that if they want to buy that boat, they can.’

The Finlease website has some excellent resources for clients considering purchasing a vessel from either the Sydney or the Sanctuary Cove Shows. These include calculators, fact sheets, application forms and detailed spreadsheets showing projected charter earnings. An acknowledged expert in the charter boat finance area, O’Donoghue and his team are able to provide detailed information about the possible tax ramifications of a charter vessel purchase.

Although Finlease has earned a great reputation for boat finance (and their breakfasts!) boat loans form only 15% of their annual turnover. The bulk of their business is providing equipment and machinery finance to a range of industries, though they also handle loans for vehicles, property and just about anything you can think of. For many of Finlease’s long term clients the company has become something like a private bank.

‘We finance everything from carpet tiles to helicopters…. People recognise Finlease for boat finance because of our advertising and because we’re at every boat show, but we do just so much more.’

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