The following scenarios help to illustrate our approach:

Case 1

A client had established and developed a successful business that facilitated his wealthy lifestyle. He asked us how much his business was worth.

Diane Brennan, managing partner explains: "a business is ultimately worth what someone is prepared to pay for it and purchasers are deterred from paying large multiples for businesses that are totally reliant on the individual at the top."

"To make a business more valuable to a potential purchaser, the business owner needs to start replacing him or herself at least 5 years prior to sale and, indeed, should be planning an exit the day they set up the company. A business owner needs to create a management structure, implement systems and most importantly write a business plan and stick to it."

"We therefore worked with the client to devise a long term strategy, determining what the client‘s ultimate ambitions were and considered options on how they could be achieved. Having implemented systems and structured a business plan, the client had a better view of how his business could function without him being involved in the day to day organisation."

"This allowed the owner to concentrate on strategy and deal with the exceptional problems, making the business more valuable to a potential purchaser. By planning his exit the client had also developed and trained a strong contender to purchase the company - the management team. However, the client was enjoying his newly discovered "spare" time so much he has decided to put back his proposed retirement."

 
Case 2

Two owner managers discussed how frustrated they were at working extremely long hours and achieving growth in sales, but their company remained unprofitable. They were under pressure from the banks and other financiers and therefore the company desperately needed to achieve profitability.

John Jackson, senior partner explains: "when we investigated the company we found the directors didn‘t produce any management accounts, budgets or hold any detailed customer information. They hadn‘t performed any competitor analysis, information vital in setting sales prices. Also the company‘s systems, premises and staffing policy had evolved on an ad hoc basis without any formal planning or structuring."

"From our review, it was apparent that the factory lacked a technical manager to support the owners. We therefore recommended this, and assisted in finding a new general manager to work on the day to day running of the business, enabling the directors to concentrate on long term strategy. In fact under the general manager the company reduced raw material waste by 8% and unnecessary labour costs by 5%."

"We produced a budget and implemented a management accounting system which included detailed cost analysis. The outputs from these systems indicated that ‘specials‘ or short production runs were not being properly priced, and were actually being produced at a loss. From our review of the market we were able to advise our clients to increase sales prices by some 15% with no consequential reduction in sales. As the business was expanding we also encouraged our client to negotiate better terms from suppliers."

"We continue to work with our client and are now in the process of writing a 5 year business plan to include an exit strategy for both the directors. We can happily report that in less than 12 months the company is achieving substantial profits and repaid has all debts."