Working Capital

Energy firm Capital City has completed the acquisition of oilfield services company Hotwell in a move designed to firm up its position within the Appalachian Basin.

Capital City, an Ohio-based enterprise, bought Hotwell for $5 million through the issuance of nearly 2.8 million shares.

This move is intended to establish Capital City as a leading provider of horizontal logging and well completion services in the Marcellus Shale, with its significant reserves of natural gas.

Retail fuel distributor Flying J yesterday filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in a further sign of the increasing pressure on oil and gas services companies, both large and small.

The Utah-based firm - which employs 16,000 staff nationwide - cited liquidity pressures aggravated by the recent sharp drop in oil prices and the closure of traditional lines of credit.

It's not just access to working capital which has taken a hit as part of the ongoing credit squeeze.

The sharp fall in real estate prices and the drop in overall spending have further conspired to create treacherous market conditions for business owners across the country.

A growing number of business executives report that working capital at their companies has either shrunk or is stagnating.

The new survey by KPMG LLP finds that 67 percent of senior financial executives reported an undesirable working capital situation. KPMG noted that many of the companies surveyed also reported that they do not have working capital improvement programs in place, nor did they report preparing reliable cash forecasts.

Business owners are being advised to seek the cash flow they need now as opposed to waiting for better economic times to return.

This week, Business Week magazine offered some pointers for entrepreneurs in need of startup capital. The report noted that venture capitalists were more cautious in their investments this year, which fell nine percent between the third quarters of 2008 and 2007.

With the economic rescue package is to provide assistance to banks and other large financial institutions, one person has requested that small businesses get a piece of the $700 billion bailout pie.

William Kane, a quality analyst for a prescription benefits administrator in Georgia, has emailed local Congressional representatives, the Treasury Department and the White House - in addition to president-elect Barack Obama's transitional team - to request that owners of small firms receive a share of federal aid.

As the economic downturn continues, it is important for small businesses to get to grips with their spending.

Such is the assertion of George Cloutier of Orlando, Florida-based American Management Services, who says the current financial situation should encourage owners of such organizations to look at their expenditure and identify areas where they can make reductions, News Day reports.

He said, "There's a huge amount of waste in businesses. In this kind of economy you need to cut costs viciously."

With banks, businesses and other institutions on both Wall and Main Street suffering from the credit crisis, owners of small firms in Portland, Oregon, are now facing the pinch.

In an article on Portland Business Journal, it was indicated that small and medium-sized organizations in the region are finding accessing loans and other lines of credit from banks to be an ever harder task.

With oil production estimates falling and the credit crunch continuing to make its presence felt on business and banks, a significant drop has also been recorded in the manufacturing industry.

Data released by the Federal Reserve reveal that - over the course of September - production rates across all industries fell by a seasonally adjusted amount of 2.8 percent from August.

This figure represents the largest fall seen for more than 30 years - however, economic experts had been expecting an average drop of 0.8 percent.

As the credit crunch continues to limit the number of business loans approved by banks, it may be the time to investigate options offered by nontraditional lenders.

Small business owner Corey Pettway told WCBS-TV about his struggles to obtain working capital to grow his firm.

His initial attempts to borrow money from banks proved fruitless, even though his company was successful and he had a good credit history.