Wine, if the warehouse turns into economic liquidity, without opening credit lines

“The winery sells the wine in stock to us, but we leave it at the winery’s disposal. Then when the winery sells it to the end customer, on its own terms, it rebuys it from us, on the terms we have agreed with the company. So the winery obtains liquidity to manage its business but without opening credit lines, we earn through the securitization of stocks, in plans that last at least three years. And if, unfortunately, the winery is unable to sell the wine to its end customers, the product is left to us, who will then take care of finding a place for it on the market”. The idea of Supply@me (a company quoted in London in March with a capitalization of £227.5 million) is simple in its concept. It is an “Inventory Monetisation” platform, the only one in Europe through which companies in every sector can create value from their warehouse, optimizing their working capital and improving the efficiency of the supply chain.
“We have been working on an initiative of this kind since 2015”, explains Alessandro Zamboni, the CEO of Supply@me, to WineNews, “which is multi-sector, for all companies that have stocks on the move or in production, so they can monetize them before selling them to the end customer. And we do this through “vehicles” that buy the stock, leave it on account of use to the companies, and then when the entrepreneur has sold it to the end customer, he can actually buy it back, thus eliminating the problems related to the warehouse. Clearly this happens with a plan agreed with the client company, and for us it is essential that it lasts at least three years, because there is behind a financial securitization system with its specificities. But it is a service that, for a supply chain like wine can be, for example, especially in a moment like this, but not only, can be very interesting, because it solves a part of the problem of liquidity, moreover with a tool that is not a credit line, and that therefore also helps to improve the economic indicators of the company. On the other hand - adds Zamboni - the company itself does not even lose the status of an agricultural enterprise, which is a very important aspect as we were witnessed by the first experiences in this sector some time ago. And, moreover, we also have important partners in logistics, which, if the company wants, also allows us to move the stock from the cellar and to other structures. An interesting aspect especially at this stage when we are heading towards the harvest and maybe we need to make room in the cellar. In addition of course to all the work of monitoring and analysis of data and flows”.
There are already important brands of Italian wine working with Supply@me, such as Tasca d’Almerita, for example, “and we are also dialoguing with other realities of Barolo or Franciacorta, for example. Even if we would prefer to think in a systemic way, and for example we are in dialogue with the Consorzio del Brunello di Montalcino - adds Zamboni - because for us it is preferable to work with important critical masses”.
With two worlds, that of wine, anchored to the land and tradition, and that of finance, more and more innovative and creative, which are looking more and more closely.