Despite rates rise, economy strong for next year -
Despite the recent rate rise by the Reserve Bank of Australia, Commonwealth Bank chief economist says that Australia’s theme is positive for the next financial year.

Finance adds value to customer base -
Supplier of labour saving devices to the wine industry, Pellenc Australia, sees the services commercial finance specialists as a value-add to their customer base.

Steps in growing a business -
Facilitating and maintaining growth to achieve sustainable long-term returns are key challenges that typically every business owner must contend with to ensure their business' ultimate success and livelihood.

Finance specialists add value to customer base -

Supplier of labour saving devices to the wine industry, Pellenc Australia, sees the services commercial finance specialists Interlease offers as a value-add to their customer base.

Pellenc Australia, based in the country’s premier grape growing region in South Australia, imports innovative machines to ease the load of growing grapes including grape harvesters, vine trimmers and leaf removers.

“Our machines deliver to Australian growers the efficiency improvements they are looking for,” says Pellenc Managing Director Louise Fraser.

Embracing technology for efficiency a must -

In fact, it’s a hallmark of the Australian wine industry that growers enthusiastically embrace technological advancements to continue to compete with the world’s largest wine producers – particularly those within Europe.

This is borne out with an addition to Pellenc’s range of devices manufactured within France, a new shoot thinning device, the Ekidna (see picture opposite), which was fully designed, developed and built here in Australia.

Outside of the continent, Australia is now the fourth-largest wine exporter in the world. Australian wine outsells French wine in the United Kingdom and an Australian brand (Yellow Tail) is the number one imported wine in the US.*

With the industry currently experiencing an over-supply due to cyclical yield of particular grape varieties, along with successive years of record grape harvests, production competitiveness has been noted by the Australian government agency, Invest Australia, as a key to long-term prosperity.

“A huge burst of production and planting over the last few years has created this oversupply,” says Fraser. “The industry has been through cycles before – our growers don’t get any subsidies so they have to be efficient.”

Making it easy for customers to update machinery -

Customers looking for finance are referred by Pellenc to Interlease, equipment finance specialists.

Interlease is accredited with over forty financiers and with three decades of experience, is able to put in place the best finance structure to suit each client.

“Our customers buying capital equipment need financing. We are looking to making it easy for growers. Interlease knows the equipment and makes it easy for customers wanting finance.

“The service Interlease offers adds to the high-level of service and support our customers now expect when they are making an equipment investment in their business. Interlease knows the equipment, knows the industry, and has a good rapport with both supplier and customer, making it easy for all parties involved.”

*Industry information and statistics taken from the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade website (http://www.dfat.gov.au/facts/wine.html) and the “Australian Wine Industry, a fruitful future”, a report prepared by Invest Australia, December 2005.