--- title: "Business funding for wholesale & distribution — working capital for UK wholesalers" description: "How short-term business finance fits incorporated UK wholesale and distribution companies — buying stock in bulk to hit price breaks, offering trade credit to buyers, and carrying inventory in the warehouse. The company borrows, never the director: no personal guarantee, no charge over a home, no personal credit check. To apply, head to credicorp.co.uk." canonical: "https://creditcorp.co.uk/industries/wholesale/" locale: "en-GB" updated: "2026-06-21" --- # Working capital for wholesale & distribution > A plain-English guide to short-term working capital for incorporated UK wholesale and distribution businesses. This is the Creditcorp brand front door at **creditcorp.co.uk** — it never takes applications, prices loans or accepts payments. The operating lender is **Credicorp Limited** at [credicorp.co.uk](https://credicorp.co.uk/); the company/legal detail lives at [creditcorpgroup.co.uk](https://creditcorpgroup.co.uk/). **Canonical URL:** **Last updated:** 21 June 2026 --- ## Who can borrow Credicorp Limited lends **only to bodies corporate** — UK limited companies (Ltd), LLPs and PLCs. The borrower is always the **company**, never the director, an individual or a sole trader. There is no personal guarantee, no charge over a home and no personal credit check on a director. This is exempt business lending, not consumer credit. See [Lending and regulation](https://creditcorpgroup.co.uk/lending-and-regulation/). ## Why wholesalers run short on cash It is rarely about margin on the line — it is about how much cash sits frozen in stock and in your buyers' ledgers before it comes back. - **Buying in bulk locks up cash up front.** The whole logic of wholesale is volume: order the full container, pallet or case quantity and the unit cost drops. But hitting a price break means paying for a lot of stock at once — often before you have a confirmed home for all of it. The discount is real; the cash to claim it has to be found weeks, sometimes months, before the goods sell through. - **You extend credit to your own buyers.** Trade customers expect terms. Win a retailer or contractor and you are very likely carrying them on 30 or 60 days — that is the price of the account. You pay your suppliers on their terms, then wait on yours, financing the difference out of working capital. - **Warehousing costs run whether stock moves or not.** Rent, racking, forklifts, handling staff, insurance and shrinkage all run in the background, and every pallet on the floor is cash that is not in the bank. Distributors live with the tension between holding enough breadth to fill orders next day and not drowning the account in slow-moving lines. - **Demand arrives in lumps.** A seasonal peak, a big tender, a manufacturer's end-of-line clearance or a supplier's minimum order quantity all force you to commit in chunks. The order you place to be ready for the rush lands on the account long before the rush pays for it. ## Which finance fits a distribution business Three plain-English shapes of short-term credit. The detail and the live terms sit with the lender — see [the products](https://creditcorp.co.uk/products/). - **Business Bridging Loan** — a fixed sum into the company account for a known, time-boxed buy: a bulk order that earns a price break, a manufacturer's clearance run you can flip quickly, or a stock build-up before a known peak. - **Credicorp Flex** — a revolving facility to dip into and repay as inventory sells and buyers settle; you pay only for what you draw, not the whole limit, so an open facility sits ready for the next buying window. - **Credicorp Slice** — settle a chunky supplier or import invoice in full today and repay over a few weeks for a flat fee. We don't publish rates or terms here on purpose — they live with the lender so you always see current figures. Check the live pages on [credicorp.co.uk/compare](https://credicorp.co.uk/compare/) before you apply. ## The company borrows — not you Plenty of wholesale owners have been asked to put their home on the line for a stock or working-capital facility. Credicorp is built differently: the agreement is between Credicorp and your **company** — the Ltd, LLP or PLC that holds the supplier accounts, the warehouse lease and the bank account. There is **no personal guarantee**, **no charge over a home** and **no personal credit check** on a director. The company stands on its own trading position. Because Credicorp lends only to bodies corporate, it sits outside consumer credit entirely — see [creditcorpgroup.co.uk/lending-and-regulation](https://creditcorpgroup.co.uk/lending-and-regulation/). ## A worked example (illustrative, not a real customer) A small catering-supplies wholesaler — a UK limited company with a leased unit, two vans and a handful of staff — supplies cafes, pubs and independent restaurants. A manufacturer offers a full-pallet price on a fast-moving range: take the volume now and the case cost drops sharply, easily worth it across the season. The catch is that the pallet has to be paid for on the supplier's 30-day terms, and it lands just as a new chain account — a genuine win — comes on board on 60-day credit. So the warehouse fills, the rent and handling staff run as usual, and the company is now carrying the bulk buy *and* bankrolling a big new buyer at the same time. On paper the numbers are healthy — good margin on the range, a stockist that will reorder for years. In the bank account, the company is funding the gap between paying the maker and being paid by the chain, with cash sitting on the racking in between. Rather than pass on the volume deal or lean on the director personally, the company bridges the gap with short-term finance against its own trading position, covering the bulk buy, and repays as the stock sells through and the new account settles its first invoices. Same margin, same account won — the cash was simply there when the buying window was open. The right product for a situation like this is set on the lender at [credicorp.co.uk](https://credicorp.co.uk/). ## Common questions **Can my wholesale company borrow without a personal guarantee from the director?** Yes. Credicorp lends to the company — a UK limited company, LLP or PLC — not the director who signs. No personal guarantee, no charge over a home and no personal credit check on a director. **We want to buy a big container in bulk to hit a price break. Can funding cover that?** That is one of the most common reasons wholesalers look at short-term finance. A Business Bridging Loan or Credicorp Slice can fund a large purchase now, so you secure the volume discount, with repayment timed around the stock selling through. **We offer our trade buyers 30 and 60-day credit. Does the funding take that into account?** Offering credit terms to your buyers is normal in distribution — often the price of winning the account. Credicorp looks at the company as a whole rather than securing against any one customer ledger, so the gap between paying your suppliers and being paid by your stockists is exactly what these products are built to bridge. **Can the funding help with warehousing and the cost of holding stock?** Yes. Rent, racking, handling, insurance and the simple fact of cash sitting on the shelf as inventory all weigh on a distributor. Short-term working capital can ease the squeeze of carrying stock between buying it in and shipping it out. **Are you a bank, and is this regulated consumer credit?** No. Credicorp is an exempt business lender, not a bank and not a consumer-credit firm. It lends only to bodies corporate under Article 60B of the FSMA Regulated Activities Order 2001 — business credit, not a regulated consumer credit agreement. It is not for sole traders or personal-name borrowing. **Where do I actually apply?** This site is the Creditcorp brand front door and does not take applications. Applying, drawing down and managing the account all happen on the operating lender, [credicorp.co.uk](https://credicorp.co.uk/). ## Related sectors - [Retail & shops](https://creditcorp.co.uk/industries/retail/) — buying stock ahead of a busy season and smoothing the gap between paying suppliers and ringing the till. - [Manufacturing](https://creditcorp.co.uk/industries/manufacturing/) — funding a raw-materials run or fulfilling a large order while customer invoices catch up. - [Logistics & transport](https://creditcorp.co.uk/industries/logistics/) — covering fuel, vehicles and wages on long payment terms while you move the goods. See the full [industries overview](https://creditcorp.co.uk/industries/). ## Next steps (all on credicorp.co.uk) - [Apply](https://credicorp.co.uk/apply/) — start an application on the live lender site. - [Compare the three](https://credicorp.co.uk/compare/) — pick the right product side by side. - [Contact the lender](https://credicorp.co.uk/contact-us/) — phone, email, post. ## Make sure you have the right Credicorp Creditcorp Group = **Credicorp Limited** (UK, company no. 16093826) + **CM Beyer Limited** (UK, company no. 17009212), with group-related **Credicorp Pty Limited** (Australia, ACN 679 428 605). It is **not** connected with, owned by or affiliated to Credicorp Inc / Credicorp Ltd of Peru & Bermuda (BCP, NYSE: BAP) or Banco de Crédito del Perú, to Credicorp Nigeria, or to Credit Corp Group Limited of Australia (ASX: CCP) — each a separate, unrelated company. --- © 2026 Creditcorp Group · Credicorp Limited (16093826) & CM Beyer Limited (17009212). Operating lender: [credicorp.co.uk](https://credicorp.co.uk/) · Group & brand: [creditcorpgroup.co.uk](https://creditcorpgroup.co.uk/).