London, 10 May 2006

Close Invoice Finance, part of the Close Brothers Group and one of Europe’s most enterprising merchant banks, announced the successful implementation of Citadel ID®, which is set to maximise their growth potential in the invoice discounting market.

Demica, a market leader of intelligent working capital solutions has leveraged its success in providing consulting and reporting services in trade receivables securitisation to develop Citadel ID®, a web based solution developed specifically to meet the current challenges facing the providers of invoice discounting services.

With ambitious growth plans for 2006, Close Invoice Finance sought a new solution that would deliver significant competitive advantage and increased flexibility to their business. As Rob Harris, IT & Strategy Director, Close Invoice Finance, explains, “We required a solution that would enable us to build greater scale and opportunity into our business model and we identified Demica as a partner who could help us redefine our marketplace and re-engineer our business model.”

Following a successful implementation of Citadel ID®, Close now have the capability and confidence to work with customers whose revenues were otherwise too small or high-risk to service safely and cost-effectively. A transparent and detailed view of the underlying debt structure of a client’s invoice portfolio, results in greater account management efficiencies and lower operational costs. This enables greater working flexibility and more competitive pricing for the clients of invoice discounting providers. According to Rob Harris,: “Citadel ID® provides real-time comprehensive views on our client’s account, enabling our business to be more responsive and dynamic and as the system operates in real-time, we are now much less reliant on tacit knowledge”.

CEO of Demica, Phillip Kerle commented, “We are delighted to be working with such a progressive and ambitious player in the invoice discounting market and we look forward to seeing the Close Invoice Finance team reaping the rewards of their investment in the Citadel ID® solution”.

Close Invoice Finance Limited provides invoice finance services to over 1,000 clients and was recently awarded the title of Best Factoring & Invoice Discounter Provider for 2006 by Business Moneyfacts. Close Invoice Finance is a distinct business group within the Close Brothers Group, one of the Europe’s most enterprising merchant banks and a FTSE top 250 listed company. Close Invoice Finance continues to grow at a rate that is ahead of the industry average and contributes more than 7% of the Close Brothers Group’s total revenue.

For more information on Close Invoice Finance please visit

Factoring and invoice discounting companies across Europe now turnover in excess of €612bn and the market continues to grow steadily (2005 growth was up by 25.8% over the previous year). The FCI (Factors Chain International) highlighted in their 2005 report that whilst invoice discounting services had traditionally been limited to firms with annual turnovers in excess of €2m, competitive pressures had seen this threshold reduced to around €0.7m. A recent independent report commissioned by Demica identified the primary obstacle to sustained growth amongst Invoice Discounting companies to be the lack of adequate software tools to optimise process and limit risk. Specifically, the report identified a gap in the market for a real-time web enabled flexible tool that would allow providers of invoice discounting services to build greater scalability into their business models, without increasing their risk exposure.

Demica is a market leading provider of specialised working capital solutions providing consulting, advisory and technology services to a diverse range of multi-national clients. Demica works with the world's leading investment banks, private equity sponsors and global corporations to implement innovative solutions to their securitisation and supply chain finance requirements.

Demica’s technology is used around the globe running in excess of €10.5 billion of invoice-based transactions on its Citadel® platform. Demica is a wholly owned subsidiary of the J.M. Huber Corporation, one of the largest privately held companies in the United States. Demica has offices in London, Atlanta and Tokyo.

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