Sheltered from the slightest risk

For the past 25 years, the vocation of FDI Logbox has been to help exporting companies to improve debt security. Its offer is aimed particularly at companies with export sales that do not pass through a subsidiary or an importer. Historically a subsidiary of a transport group, Fiduciaire de Distribution Internationale, which became FDI Logbox more recently, has developed in Europe and the US, establishing a network of subsidiaries. FDI Logbox has been independent since 1999 and its main shareholder is the ING group.
Today, FDI Logbox employs 200 staff in ten countries: France, the UK, Belgium, Germany, Austria, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Denmark and the US. “With our 9 subsidiaries, we cover 25 countries,” says Dominique Chatelin, CEO of FDI Logbox. The company boasts around 500 clients, representing over 1,500 brands, and is in contact with some 35,000 payee-clients.
In 2008, it generated a global volume of 700 million euros. Its clients range from small emerging companies to multinationals, with a core target of SMEs producing
a turnover of between 20 and 50 million euros. The majority of its clients come from the fashion sector (80%), especially in Italy, France and Spain, but also in Germany, the UK and Benelux. A positioning that pushes the company into market leader position in this sector. “We work above all in export markets, although some clients ask us to intervene in their domestic market,” explains Dominique Chatelin. “We provide them with a set of services, supported by a unique computer platform: Logbox Online 2.0. Our local subsidiaries provide the necessary legal, linguistic and cultural skills.” Indeed, international companies often face difficulties in tracking their client accounts. Its clients delegate all or part of their portfolios. At the order stage, FDI Logbox issues an assessment of the payee-client – is the client guaranteeable or not? And for those that are not, the company advises whether the client can be considered as safe or if, on the contrary, they represent a risk. It is their clients who make the final decision. FDI Logbox sends invoices to all the payee-clients that their own client has given them, puts in place the means for optimising methods of payment, covers the debt, and after a certain number of attempts at recovery, proceeds to a pre-litigation or, if necessary, a litigation stage. This whole set of tasks comes under the global service called “Logbox”. FDI Logbox has launched two new services: a finance service – a credit line linked to the personalised management of client credit (Logbox Finance) – and a service to deal with old unpaid invoices (Collectbox). There are plenty of advantages for FDI Logbox clients. “We
allow them to concentrate on their main job,” Dominique Chatelin goes on. “The process of client credit management is essential, but it is neither strategic nor differentiating. By outsourcing it, a company can benefit from an optimisation of cash-flow and a reduction in the risks of non-payment.” This service is even more beneficial during times of crisis. “A certain flexibility in delayed payment must be allowed, but companies have to protect themselves against possible risks of payment default. And this balance must be weighed up on a daily basis.”
Due to the deterioration of the current situation, credit insurers have lowered
the score of a certain number of weakened companies, thus excluding them from
the list of guaranteed companies. “These days, demand for our services is strong, since companies need solutions that are complementary to credit insurance. We deal just as much with clients guaranteed by credit insurers as those who are not.
We are therefore in a position to help our clients make the best choice between two alternatives: to increase business at all costs or to shelter themselves from the slightest risk.”