£25M
Annual FX Volume
Case Study: Textile Import/Export
UK Textile Trader Saves £312,000 Annually
Importing fabrics from India and China with £25M annual FX volume.
85% reduction in FX costs with real-time GBP/INR/CNY exposure tracking.
Key metrics
£312k
Annual Savings
85%
Cost Reduction
3
Currencies Managed
Company Profile
Business
UK-based textile trader supplying fabric to fashion brands and manufacturers across Europe
Sourcing
India (cotton, silk), China (synthetic blends, technical fabrics), Bangladesh (finished garments)
Currency Exposure
GBP/INR (60%), GBP/CNY (30%), GBP/USD (10%)
Payment Terms
30-60 day terms with Indian suppliers, LC for China, creating significant FX exposure windows
The Challenge
As a textile trader with £25M annual FX volume, margin is everything. The company was struggling with:
Costly FX Spreads
Bank charging 2.5% spread on GBP/INR and 2% on GBP/CNY. On £25M annual volume, FX costs alone exceeded £500,000.
No FX Visibility
Supplier invoices issued 30-60 days before payment. No way to see live FX exposure. Rates moved 3-5% in payment windows, eroding margins unpredictably.
Container Delays
Manual tracking of 40+ containers monthly. Three demurrage incidents in one year cost £18,000. Seasonal stock arrived late, missing sales windows.
“In textiles, 1% margin difference is the difference between profit and loss. Our bank was taking 2.5% just on currency conversion. We were working for them, not ourselves.”
— Finance Director
The Solution
Unicorn Currencies provided three critical capabilities that transformed their treasury operations:
Real-Time FX P/L Tracking
Upload supplier invoices as PDFs. Automated document capture extracts currency, amount, and due date. Dashboard shows live P/L in red/green as GBP/INR and GBP/CNY rates move.
The finance team now sees exactly what waiting costs them. When INR weakens (good for them), they lock the rate with a 15-second hold. When INR strengthens, they can hedge or wait.
Live bill-level FX P/L is the platform's signature feature.
Container Tracking + Demurrage Alerts
All 40+ monthly containers tracked in one dashboard. Real-time ETAs from shipping lines. 48-72 hour demurrage alerts before containers go into detention.
When a container is ready for release, in-network settlement means they can pay port charges in seconds instead of waiting 2-3 days for bank transfers.
Logistics platforms charge £2k-5k/year for this. It is included with the account.
Pre-Agreed Volume Pricing
At £25M annual volume, the desk agreed a 0.40% margin for this trader — 84% below their bank's 2.5% spread.
Plus agreed per-payment fees of £5 vs £35 at their bank. Multi-currency wallets hold INR, CNY, and USD for opportunistic rate locking.
Direct savings: £312k annually on FX alone.
The Results
£312,000
Annual FX Savings
Agreed 0.40% margin vs 2.5% at bank (85% reduction)
£24,000
Demurrage Avoided
48-72h alerts + fast settlement within the Unicorn Currencies network
£18,000
FX Gains Captured
Using real-time P/L tracker to lock optimal rates
12h/wk
Time Saved
NetSuite API integration for automated reconciliation
- Margin improvement of 1.2% across all textile lines
- Zero demurrage incidents in 12 months (vs 3 previously)
- Multi-user approval workflows for £100k+ transactions
- Full audit trails for HMRC compliance
- Seasonal stock now arrives on time—captured £85k incremental revenue
Customer quote
“The real-time FX P/L tracker changed how we think about treasury. We used to guess what waiting cost us. Now we see it in real-time. When GBP/INR hit 106.5 last month, we locked £800k instantly because the dashboard showed we'd save £12k vs waiting. We never had that visibility before.”
Finance Director
UK Textile Trading Company
Frequently asked questions
The textile trader faced significant GBP/INR/CNY currency exposure with £25M annual FX volume. They struggled with unpredictable FX costs due to 2.5% bank spreads, managing multiple currency payments across India and China suppliers, and 30-60 day payment terms that created dangerous FX exposure windows where rates could move 3-5%.
Similar FX Challenges?
If you're a textile trader with $1M+ annual FX, we built this platform for you.
Minimum: $1M annual FX volume · 3-week deployment · No long-term contracts