The amount of corporate changes in the News this month makes interesting reading. While some companies are sadly having to take actions such as declaring insolvency, such as Softal (p.7), others are boldly investing in plant and facilities, and bigger companies such as Amcor are on the acquisition trail.Softal puts its difficulties mainly down to slow payment of bills. Even companies with healthy order books and innovative, efficient products can become victims of cash flow problems these days. And it is disgraceful that slow payment often results in a company being forced to the brink, particularly the small and medium-sized operations. It seems that there is no way to regulate this, and some companies that are in a stronger financial position can push weaker suppliers to the brink by just refusing to pay within the agreed credit terms. These agreements don't seem to be worth the paper they are written on in some cases.
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