InBev slammed over new payment terms

A private business pressure group has lambasted brewing giant InBev for doubling the time it takes to pay suppliers.

The Forum for Private Business (FPB) has reported that one of its members had her terms for payment moved from 30 days from the end of the month of invoice to 60 days.

The FPB's executive chairman, Len Collinson, described InBev's action as "reprehensible".

"Not only was this decision taken without the consent of InBev's suppliers, but also they were given less than a month's notice of the change," he said.

"Many suppliers of the firm will find it difficult to adapt and will have problems with their cash flow," he added.

In a statement InBev said: "We can confirm that we have changed our payment terms for reasons of consistency and standardisation across our whole business in the West of Europe."

The brewer said that 60 day payment agreements were not unusual across some parts of Europe.

"We value greatly the suppliers that we work with and we've had positive conversations about this with the majority of them. It may take time for some of the suppliers to get used to the new system but we will do what we can to help them over the coming months," it added.

The FPB's Collinson remained unconvinced. "This is an abuse of buying power. Suppliers are unlikely to stand up against such unilateral action on payment terms for fear of losing InBev's custom completely.

"They will have no choice but to accept these changes and the consequences for their firms," he said.