SucceSS Story

Success Story
It‘s Treasury Business
Out of Africa: Vlisco Treasury Powered by tm5
The Company Vlisco Group manufactures high-quality wax printed fabrics for the West and Central African market and African consumers in metropolitan cities like New York, Paris and London. Founded in 1846 in the Dutch town of Helmond, Vlisco achieved a turnover of 225 million euros in 2011. Today, the company has 2,700 employees, around 1,600 of which work in Africa. Vlisco fabrics are referred to as “Real Dutch Wax” or “Wax Hollandais”. The 6 yards long panels of cloth
with colorful designs are tailored into striking outfits for fashion-conscious African women. It is important
to their proud owners that the trade names “Super Wax Vlisco” and “Veritable Wax Hollandais Vlisco”
remain visible at the seams: Vlisco is a luxury label. Showrooms and stores can be found in Benin, Togo, Ivory Coast, Nigeria, Democratic Republic of Congo and the Netherlands.
The Challenge Cash management and liquidity planning at Vlisco were processed in Micro- soft Excel. The individual companies in West and Central Africa emailed their Excel files with
their actual cash balances and their cash forecast to the group treasury in the Netherlands on a weekly basis. In short: Consolidating the numbers from the various files and reporting them in a consistent and reliable way presented the headquarters with a very special challenge. Moreover, business in Africa is conducted in local currency cash (cheques and petty cash). This, together with the cash visibility on a daily basis, the conversion of local currency into euros and the process of transferring euros to the Netherlands (cash in transit) are important issues for the corporate treasury department.
V l i sco G r o u p
„C
ash is King: In a corporate
group, everything revolves
around liquidity. I love treasury,
because it enables me to contribute
to the group’s performance and
development
by
managing
the
group’s liquidity and its related
risks.“
Dennis Baljeu
Corporate Treasurer
The Solution Vlisco decided to adopt the web-based treasury management system tm5 by BELLIN to improve the quality and reliability of existing processes and to introduce efficient controlling and reporting capabilities for its treasury. Now, the local subsidiaries use the LM (cash management) module to enter their current account and cash assets on a daily or at least weekly basis. The immediately available balances are transparent on the corporate level, creating a solid basis for liquidity planning. Since the successful implementation, which was accomplished and documented
within six months, 15 group companies throughout Africa work with tm5. The solution also represents
a milestone in Vlisco’s track record: tm5 is the first business system in use throughout the group.
The Future Vlisco Group has set ambitious goals. The enterprise has projected to grow to a
turnover of approximately 400 million euros by 2015. The means to this end are innovative products
and geographical expansion. With tm5, Vlisco is equipped to rise to the challenge – both in and out of Africa.
www.bellin.com
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