CASE STUDY
Cintra saved 4x what we spend on Capture Expense in cashback, time, and interest free credit
£110,000
Freed up as usable working capital every month, from an average 20 days’ float on every card transaction.
4x ROI
With the combination of Capture Expense and Pliant, we've delivered 4x ROI through time saved and cashback.
About Capture Expense x Pliant
James Rowell founded Capture Expense to remove the work and frustration from business spending. Today, the platform combines expense management, intelligent automation, and Pliant credit cards in one experience, giving employees simplicity and finance teams real-time control.
“I built Capture on a simple belief: the best expense process is one people barely notice. Employees should be able to pay, capture the receipt, and move on; while finance gets the control, visibility, and accounting data it needs without chasing anyone. Integrating Pliant cards closes that loop, bringing spending, policy, receipts, and reconciliation into one intelligent platform. Ultimately, expenses should increasingly manage themselves.”
The Cintra story: How we turned card spend into working capital
Cintra knows what manual expense admin costs a finance team—it’s the reason Cintra exists. When our own card spend meant downloading transactions and coding them by hand, GL code by GL code, we looked for something better.
We found it in Capture Expense Cards, powered by Pliant. Chosen for the same commitment to agility, compliance, and usability we bring to our own clients, receipts and spend data now flow through automatically, with no manual chasing.
We started with one team, then rolled cards out further. They’re now used well beyond travel and expenses across PSSG, being utilised for software, marketing, and advertising spend too. In fact, travel and expenses make up only around 5% of what goes through the cards each month; with all spend earning up to 0.75% cashback.
200+
transactions processed monthly
23
card users across 8 departments
£110,000
in spend managed every month
12
suppliers under one payment method
The CFO: turning card spend into working capital
- The role: Callum Harvey, our CFO, owns financial strategy and controls across the Group.
- The CFO’s challenge: Every transaction used to mean cash leaving the business immediately—spend and settlement happened at the same time, with no upside to paying early.
- How he’s using Capture Expense x Pliant: Capture Expense Cards posts transactions straight away, but the liability isn’t due until the end of the repayment period. That gap is usable liquidity, cash that would have left PSSG immediately now stays available for the full credit term, at no extra cost, plus cashback on top.
- The results: An average of 20 days’ float on every transaction, worth £110k in working capital freed up every month, plus 0.75% cashback on top.
“Every card transaction used to mean cash leaving the business straight away. With Capture Expense Cards, we hold onto that cash for the full repayment period before settling in full and every pound we spend earns cashback on top. It’s meant real, measurable liquidity for the business, at no additional cost to us.”
“VAT returns used to mean chasing receipts and coding transactions by hand, GL code by GL code. Now every transaction arrives with its receipt attached and already coded, including spend we’d have missed reclaiming VAT on before. We’ve also moved all our software subscriptions and marketing spend onto the cards, so we get the same clean, controlled record for those as we do for travel and expenses.”
The Finance Director: spend control, faster VAT, cleaner books
- The role: Sarah Gordon, our Director of Finance, leads financial reporting, compliance, and cash flow across PSSG.
- The Finance Director’s challenge: Before Capture Expense Cards, VAT returns meant chasing receipts and coding transactions by hand, which slowed month-end and left reclaimable VAT unclaimed. Digital subscriptions and marketing spend added further complexity, spread across separate supplier accounts each having several transactions a month.
- How she’s using Capture Expense x Pliant: Every transaction now arrives with its receipt attached and the right GL code applied automatically—no chasing, no re-keying. That gives Sarah a clean, reconciled trail ready for VAT returns, including spend that used to go unclaimed. Digital subscriptions and marketing spend now sit on the same cards, under the same control.
- The results: 34% more expense-related VAT reclaimed per quarter, and a much clearer view of marketing and subscription spend.
The Finance Operations Manager: spend visibility in real time
- The role: Sarah Burn, our Finance Operations Manager, keeps spend visible and under control across the Group.
- The Finance Operations Manager’s challenge: Before Capture Expense Cards, spend was only visible after the fact—someone had to pull the data apart line by line to see what had been spent, by whom, and where. Duplicate charges, out-of-policy spend, and coding errors often went unnoticed until well after the money had gone.
- How she’s using Capture Expense x Pliant: Transactions land the moment they’re made, already coded and matched to a receipt—a live view of spend rather than a monthly statement. Card-level controls (limits, freezes, department rules) let Sarah manage risk before spend happens, not after.
- The results: Out-of-policy and duplicate transactions are now flagged the same day, down from up to 30 days under the old statement-review process.
“We used to only find out what had been spent after the event, once someone had pulled the transaction data apart. Now I can see spend the moment it happens, already coded, already matched to a receipt, so we can manage expenditure, policy, and risk before it becomes a problem, not after.”
“If the office needs something, I now get an instant card the moment I need one, buy what’s needed there and then, and it’s already sorted, no expense claim, no waiting to be paid back.”
The Office Administrator: instant cards, zero waiting
- The role: Ruth Sutton, our Office Administrator, keeps Head Office running day to day.
- The Office Administrator’s challenge: Before Capture Expense Cards, buying anything for the office meant waiting on a shared card, waiting for an approval, or paying out of pocket and claiming it back—turning a same-day job into a delay, sometimes at Ruth’s own expense.
- How she’s using Capture Expense x Pliant: Ruth gets an instant virtual card the moment she needs to buy something. No physical card or approval chain to wait on. She pays there and then, captures the receipt at the point of purchase, and it’s already coded and reconciled.
- The results: Zero personal expense claims a month. Ruth pays directly on an instant card instead of out of her own pocket.
The benefits
3 days
saved in every processing period
Real-time savings
No manual reconciliation, receipt-chasing, or hand-coding. Finance gets that time back every processing period.
34%
more VAT reclaimed per quarter
Easier reporting
VAT returns are prepared 2 days faster, with receipts and GL codes attached automatically, capturing VAT that used to slip through unclaimed.
1 day
to flag out-of-policy or duplicate transactions
Stronger spend control
Down from up to 30 days under the old statement cycle. Spend is now caught the same day, with department managers seeing their own team’s spend in real time.
20 days
average float on every transaction
Cash stays in the business longer
Transactions post immediately, but settlement isn’t due until the end of the repayment period—turning routine spend into working capital instead of instant cash outflow.
£110,000
usable liquidity freed
Enhanced liquidity
£110,000 held as usable liquidity each month, plus 0.75% cashback earned while that cash sits available, at no additional cost.
~5%
of monthly card spend is travel & expenses
Cashback on everything
The other 95%—software, marketing, and advertising spend—earns exactly the same 0.75% cashback: extra cash generated on spend the business already makes, at no cost.