Midlands brewer under fire over payments
Molson Coors (UK), the Burton-on-Trent-based company behind leading beer brands Carling, Grolsch and Cobra, is extending its supplier payment terms to more than three months. That's according to a business group which says the company recently wrote to its suppliers informing them their invoices would not be processed for more than 90 days from receipt.
Support organisation the Forum of Private Businesses said smaller firms which rely on Molson Coors for work may end up waiting more than a quarter of a year before receiving any payment for their products and services.
In a letter to its suppliers, Molson Coors blamed the move on the need to invest and said extending payment terms would make the company “more consistent with the industry standard”.
The Forum has now entered Molson Coors into its late payment "Hall of Shame"– an online directory of businesses which it says have put suppliers under pressure by forcing extended payment terms upon them.
Forum spokesman Phil McCabe said: “We are very disappointed that yet another big business has seen fit to profit at the expense of its struggling small suppliers.
“Maintaining a healthy cash flow is hugely important to small businesses, especially in the current economic climate, and many small and medium sized businesses simply can’t afford to wait months and months to be paid for work they have carried out.
“As a result, paying late often works to the detriment of big businesses as they shrink the pool of suppliers and contractors who are able or willing to work for them, hampering competition and choice. We have written to Molson Coors urging them to reverse the extension to their terms and sign up to the 'Prompt Payment Code'.”
