Some of the world’s biggest retail brands have been shamed for taking months to pay smaller suppliers.
Major companies with a presence in the U.K., including Bud Light maker AB InBev and the bottling company behind Coca-Cola, are taking well over 100 days to pay back their suppliers, according to the latest report on invoice payments by Good Business Pays.
The think tank behind the study warns slow repayments, which AB InBev insists affect only its larger suppliers, are likely having a major impact on small businesses living hand-to-mouth and reliant on cash from multibillion-dollar corporations.
Big companies take months to pay invoices
Belgian multinational brewing giant AB InBev was one of the biggest culprits of slow payments, taking an average of 117 days to pay back its suppliers.
Nearly four out of every five invoices received by the drinks maker weren’t paid for more than 60 days.
Coca-Cola Europacific Partners, the European bottler of Coca-Cola’s drinks, took an average of 107 days to pay back its suppliers, while Cadbury-owner Mondelez took 99 days to pay invoices.
Reckitt, the company behind kitchen and bathroom cleaning products like Air Wick and Finish, was the worst offender, taking on average 126 days to pay back suppliers.
These companies were all signaled out as “slow,” rather than late repayers, indicating they tended to make payments on a pre-agreed schedule, albeit a slow one.
“Supply, energy, and now financial challenges have created a perfect storm for small businesses,” said Good Business Pays CEO Terry Corby.
“While these pressures face all organizations they are felt most, and fastest, by small businesses.”
The U.K. introduced a “duty to report” bill in 2017 that forced large companies to disclose how long it took them to pay their suppliers.
While this initiative was intended to give suppliers more transparency before entering into a business agreement, it was hoped that it would pressure big businesses to cut the time it takes them to pay.
However, it appears that hasn’t been the case.
Analysis by Good Business Pays found that in the five years since the “duty to report” plan was introduced, the average time taken by big companies to pay an invoice had dropped by just one day to 36 days, the Times of London reported.
AB InBev hits back
AB InBev is worth more than $100 billion, while Coca-Cola’s European bottler is worth over $32 billion.
The scale of their operations means they can often take longer to carry out basic tasks like repayments. They also have significant cash flow and debt financing that removes short-term risks related to recalcitrant customers.
Their U.K. suppliers, meanwhile, can often be small outfits with much less freedom with cash supply and are likely to feel the real-world effects of delayed payments.
In January 2022, the Federation for Small Businesses warned that 400,000 small firms were threatened by cash flow problems related to late payments from customers.
Good Business Pays said large firms were in “cash conservation” mode and were taking too long to pay small businesses for things like materials, transport, and labor for work done months previously.
Representatives for AB InBev didn’t immediately respond to Fortune’s request for comment.
A spokesperson for Coca-Cola Europacific Partners told Fortune that its smaller suppliers were typically paid within 40 days, and that it was switching to 30-day terms for suppliers in Great Britain.
“The strength of our relationships with suppliers is critically important to the success of our business in Great Britain, and we work closely with them to ensure we have appropriate payment terms in place,” the spokesperson said.
Responding directly to Good Business Pays’ report, AB InBev said it negotiated with firms on an individual basis, adding that most of its slower payments are related to large suppliers.
The drinks maker said most of its small suppliers have payment terms below 60 days, and those that did were paid within that time frame in 2022.
However, Good Business Pays data shows 11% of AB InBev’s invoices weren’t paid within the agreed terms.
