Exceptional Trading Finds an Exceptional Cash Flow Solution

The leading Benelux supplier of private-label lighters, including the Atomic brand, can now buy more stock ahead of time without having to borrow from the bank.

Fifteen years ago, with no customers and a young son to support, Sheila Keijzers started Exceptional Trading B.V. She quickly found herself barely scraping by, but she wasn’t deterred.

“I wanted to make a better life. It was a question of working hard and never giving up,” said Keijzers, who would crunch numbers and quotes at night while her son slept, then spend her days visiting potential customers.

Today, Exceptional Trading is the biggest provider of private-label lighters and other smoking supplies to major supermarkets and other retail chains in the Netherlands and Belgium, with the popularity of its Atomic brand of lighters making the company a supplier of choice.

“We started off with zero customers, and now we’re the market leader,” Keijzers said.

Before Exceptional Trading began working with C2FO, she said, options for accessing cash flow were limited. “We have to finance our stock far in advance. Sometimes up to six months in advance. Before we were introduced to C2FO, we were dependent on our supplier in Hamburg and on the bank.”

Keijzers first heard about C2FO from one of Exceptional Trading’s large supermarket clients, which asked if the company would like to join its early payment programme to get invoices paid earlier.

“We were immediately very keen because we had to do something about our cash flow,” Keijzers said. “We signed up, created an account, and as of that time, our first invoices were paid within a week.”