Alistair Houghton meets CHRIS SAVAGE, UK and Ireland managing director at Intrum Justitia

IT MAY be no surprise that a debt collector does well at a time of recession. But Chris Savage, UK and Ireland managing director of Intrum Justitia, says debt collectors shouldn’t be seen as agents of doom, but instead as agents helping oil the wheels of British commerce.

Liverpool-based Intrum offers credit management services for organisations including banks, telecoms companies, credit card firms and government agencies.

As the recession bites, firms are fighting harder to recover cash they are owed, and Savage says Intrum will benefit as a result.

The company is so confident, it plans to take on at least 100 staff at its Old Hall Street base over the next 12 months to help it cope with the growing demand.

“There’s a lot of organisations talking to us right now because there’s a lot of organisations with debt issues,” he said.

“In good times, that sort of thing tends to be neglected. It’s about winning new customers and offering new services, and cash is not as important an issue when, if you run a bit short, you can go back to the bank.

“In tighter times, when credit isn’t as available, you have to start working harder to manage your balance sheet.”

Savage says that companies who cannot get cash from their credit crunch-hit banks are now pushing harder to recover money owed to them by customers.

“We specialise in collecting money,” he said.

“For a telecoms company, for example, selling services is its raison d’etre, not collecting cash.

“It makes a lot of sense to have people whose core competency is collecting cash helping them.”

That cash collection has, says Savage, wider benefits for society as a whole.

“When we recover monies for our clients it helps them keep their prices down for the benefit of all of us,” he said.

“The latest research shows £25bn tied up in small firms’ unpaid late payment bills.