Recent Article in the Telegraph

The perfect time to buy a business – if you can find the funds

http://jobs.telegraph.co.uk/career-article/620/the-perfect-time-to-buy-a-business-if-you-can-find-the-funds

Date: 07/09/2011

The businesses-for-sale marketplace http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/search.aspx is rich with promise for bargain hunters with enough capital to bypass the banks, according to leading professionals in business transfer.

Speaking to BusinessesForSale.com, agents also report that the dwindling number of businesses with healthy balance sheets are more in demand than ever as entrepreneurs seek reliable investments in a turbulent economic climate.

Providing they are patient – deals are increasingly tortuous, collapsing more frequently because of nervous buyers, sellers and banks – cash-rich buyers can capitalise on the desperation of some sellers to exit amid challenging trading conditions. Caution and the dearth of credit is inhibiting activity so buyers armed with ready cash have less competition for the best opportunities.

“Sellers will get the red carpet out for a buyer who can proceed,” says Michael Taylor, director of leading business transfer agency Everett Masson & Furby (EM&F). “It’s definitely a buyers’ market – especially if they have cash in their pocket.

“Cash buyers can act quickly – a major advantage in trading conditions arguably at their toughest since the 2008 financial crash. Some people are under pressure to get out, so if you offer an escape route then people will take it,” says Taylor. “Many people can only afford to buy a business subject to selling their property, which many are struggling to do.”

Nevertheless, according to one corporate finance expert, a buyer with enough liquidity to buy outright shouldn’t overlook the possibility of leveraging an acquisition. “It’s a fantastic market for buyers with cash because you’re getting an excellent return on your investment,” says Amberglobe managing director Rupert Cattell, who points to rising inflation as a golden opportunity. “You’re buying yourself a job, and it’s a good idea to gear it a bit because your debt is going down if you have inflation. As value of your investment rises your debt will fall.”

Healthy businesses are widely seen as a comparatively reliable investment given continuing volatility in other investment classes and rock-bottom interest rates. So although many buyers are apparently locked out of the marketplace, there is no shortage of interest in successful businesses.

“A quality property will sell,” insists Taylor – but only if “priced realistically”. Cattell says that a struggling business, by contrast, is incredibly difficult to sell, and that “many sellers are refusing to sell for less than a certain price.

“It’s very price-sensitive, so if you are overpriced you have no chance of selling your business.” He adds: “We’re also seeing buyers trying to gazunder, which is upsetting vendors.”

But three years on from the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Taylor senses that a dose of realism has finally been administered to the marketplace. “Business owners are starting to realise that if they want to sell their business, they have to be more realistic with their asking price. Buyers are looking for a bargain; they’re not going to overpay.”

The few buyers willing to meet optimistic asking prices are increasingly undermined by the banks. “Everything is getting a bank valuation,” says Cattell. “So even if you get an agreement at a fantastic price, it will get unpicked before the deal is done because the bank valuation will come in at the market rate.”

Vendor financing, where the seller agrees to effectively play the bank’s role and accept payment in instalments, is increasingly bridging the gap. “Vendors generally seem aware that they might have to leave something on the table themselves,” says Cattell, who sold a brokerage in 2007 before setting up Amberglobe. “They don’t generally want to – but they often have to.”

Where there’s a will, there often isn’t a way, bemoans Taylor, who worked in business banking before becoming a business transfer agent. “It’s taking forever to get a decision from the banks. It really is a long, hard slog getting a deal over the finishing line and the slightest wobble is causing deals to collapse. The number of deals which fail is still high.”

Adds Cattell: “Some banks are simply not lending at all. They’re simply shut – despite what they say.”

More than ever, patience is a virtue. “You need a sensible debt-to-equity ratio, a track record and a good business plan,” to persuade banks to part with funds, insists Cattell. “They will take a long time to make a decision and you need to do your homework before you put in an application.”

So which sectors are buoyant enough to reassure risk-averse banks? “Day nurseries are doing pretty well, kennels and catteries are solid,” says the former commercial lawyer. http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/sales.aspx  

He also cites manufacturing, recently held up as a solitary bright spot in an otherwise gloomy economic landscape, although recent figures suggest output levels have dipped. “Because many manufacturers have gone bust, there are fewer competitors to the firms that remain.”

Michael Taylor suggests unusual or novel niches are worthy of consideration. “We’re finding there isn’t much demand for what I would call the ‘oddball’ sectors. Everyone knows what a newsagent does, but people tend to shy away from businesses if they don’t understand them. You can pick up a good ‘oddball’ business for a realistic price and get your money back within a year.”

Internet-based businesses attract huge interest due to a compelling mix of affordability – you rarely need to buy premises – and soaring online spending – 19% higher over the first half of 2011 than the same period last year, even though the traditional high street is struggling. “We get a lot of interest in online retailers, which can be operated from home or industrial parks rather than in the city centre where you’ve got big rent and rates,” explains Taylor. “The secret is low overheads,”

Success stories
Taylor believes uniformly negative media coverage is obscuring success stories. “There are good business opportunities out there. The way the media reports it you’d think every business was going down the tubes, but there are some very good businesses out there” – often in the least expected of sectors.

“Take the village shop. Some of them are thriving because people won’t travel to the supermarkets because of the cost of fuel.” In 2008, with the financial crisis still unfolding, former M&S chairman Stuart Rose recalled sympathising with a village shopkeeper about how tough the recession was for small independents only to be told that the shopkeeper had never seen his shop so busy.

If the relentlessly bleak tone of economic analysis in the media has made buyers cautious, it hasn’t deterred them from showing an interest in businesses on the market. Rupert Cattell reports a relatively high volume of enquiries for businesses on Amberglobe’s books.

“There are lots of buyers around, but they are kissing a lot of frogs and taking a long time. Many are possibly dreamers, which could reflect the huge numbers of people worried about redundancy.”

Buyers and sellers alike, it seems, have every reason to believe they can find plenty of value in the current marketplace, even though so many are inhibited by fear and act with excessive caution. The challenge is to heed the tough environment, being particularly fastidious with valuations, due diligence and business plans, without letting bleak economic news deter you from seizing promising opportunities.

Says Cattell: “People are very cautious in the current climate and the media seems determined to kill any confidence in the market. One bad story about post offices, for example, and a buyer could pull out of a deal in the sector.

“But now is absolutely the time to buy a business, not in boom times. Fortunes can be made in bad times.” http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/testimonials.aspx
http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/

August Vendor Report

Now that summer(?!) is over I think we are in for a period of increasing volatility in the financial markets. This will obviously do nothing for consumer confidence and the attitude of the banks. However I guess that’s nothing really new as we have all been trudging through treacle for the last three years anyway and I think most businesses have adapted and got used to the changed market conditions.
http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/search.aspx

Our levels of buyer enquiries have remained very consistent over the last three years. We keep a weekly record of all buyer enquiries and in fact the statistics show that we are getting a rising level of enquiries as a percentage of the number of businesses on our books. So buyer interest and demand remain strong.

That being said we are fighting in the trenches on just about every deal to make them happen. Banks are slow and cautious, lawyers are equally slow and landlords are just a nightmare. I know that many vendors probably think that agents do very little for their commission but if I can just say that we reckon that once we have obtained an offer for your business we still have at least 50% more work to do to get your deal over the line.
http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/sell.aspx

Because of the length of time that deals are taking to complete, tempers do get frayed and we see what is known in the sector as “deal fatigue” occurring. If I can just say that as a vendor you will need to dig very deep into your store of goodwill when you sell a business. You may well be driven to distraction with what you perceive are endless petty demands and changes requested by the purchaser, his bank or his solicitor. I have never met a vendor yet who didn’t start to get seriously hacked off by the demands of the deal. So if it happens to you please rest assured you are not alone! And if I can offer one small piece of advice it is just to keep your eye on the prize and focus on completing the sale of your business. In the weeks and months after completion all the many slights, demands and frustrations will fade away....but you will have your money and you will have sold your business.
http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/

Much like the wider economy activity remains steady but nothing to write home about. We are continuing to see reasonable levels of buyer interest but we are also seeing continued if not greater caution on the parts of buyers and their lenders. http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/search.aspx


One recent trend that has emerged is the role that solicitors are playing in a sale...or should I say their lack of it! Because the legal market has tightened and become very competitive on price we are seeing that solicitors who have provided a fixed price quote for a sale or purchase are refusing to deviate from their quoted work, so that for example they will not follow up or chase a landlord for his/her consent to an assignment of lease. This is frankly very time-consuming and landlords and their solicitors are usually in absolutely no hurry whatsoever to do the work. This can have a massive effect on how long it takes for a sale to complete and we are seeing deals collapse purely because of this, which is very frustrating for our clients.

As I have mentioned previously we have set up a joint venture with a highly experienced solicitor http://amberglobelegal.com/page/about/26/ who is consistently under-cutting other firms while still providing the type of service that you would expect. If you have not yet instructed a solicitor on your sale I would strongly urge you to get a quote from our solicitor....not only will you save yourself a great deal of money but you will also get a full legal service while considerably reducing the chances of your sale falling over. Her name is Naushad Rahman and she can be contacted at http://amberglobelegal.com/quote.php

http://www.amberglobelegal.com/
http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/

April Report

The last month has been a particularly short one from a business perspective and a combination of Easter, fine weather and the royal wedding have reduced the number of working days in the month to something like ten with many people taking two weeks’ break from work.


There was an interesting article in last week’s Sunday Times about the spike in interest from buyers in properties with incomes. We have seen that activity too although the article went on to say that buyers were very focused on the profit figures and were not tempted to over-pay even in a competitive bid situation. I would completely agree with that analysis. If you are selling a freehold business then I do think that you need to look carefully at your asking price alongside your profit stream and ask yourself if that profit can support the size of mortgage required to buy your property. I or any of my colleagues at Amberglobe would be happy to discuss this with you.
I do get the strong feeling that the market is improving and that if the weather remains fine then consumer confidence will increase. This does not mean though that I foresee prices rising any time soon but rather that more buyers will enter the market, more transactions will happen and there will be more money sloshing around as a result of house sales freeing up.
I should also mention that there are noises being made in government that the rules about Energy Performance Certificates are about to be tightened up and that all commercial properties for sale or lease will be required to have EPCs in place before being marketed for sale. Frankly this is the last thing we all need and I do appreciate that having to pay for an EPC prior to a sale being agreed is particularly annoying. In anticipation of these changes we have negotiated a staggered payment system with a number of independent EPC providers who will accept payment over a number of months. This will hopefully significantly ease the cashflow burden on you and of course your EPCs will be valid for ten years. If you would like to discuss this or arrange for a quote then please contact us.

http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/

February Report

Since my last report a couple of things have happened within Amberglobe:


The first is that we sold our first £2.5m+ business in 18 months. http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/sales.aspx We have another £1m+ sale scheduled for next month. To me these are early signs of the market beginning to improve. A year ago such sized deals were pretty much impossible to get away but both deals had significant levels of debt being advanced by banks and I think they are signs of an improving market.

I should however say that this does not mean that values are improving but just that bigger deals are finally happening. Both of these bigger deals are being done at very realistic prices and both have involved a level of vendor finance being provided.

The second thing that has happened here is that we have appointed an in-house solicitor http://amberglobelegal.com/  to provide exceptionally well-priced legal services to our vendor clients. For too long we have watched law firms muck up deals and provide a poor service to both buyers and sellers. By having an in-house solicitor handling our clients’ sales not only do I believe that our clients will be serviced efficiently and effectively but also at significantly better prices than can be obtained elsewhere. Our in-house solicitor is called Naushad Rahman and she has been practising law for over 13 years for both a large London firm and also on her own account, specialising in corporate finance and commercial law http://amberglobelegal.com/page/about/26/. If you would like to receive a quote for the legal work on your sale or indeed for any commercial law issue, then Naushad can be contacted on nr@amberglobe.co.uk or http://amberglobelegal.com/contact-us.php or 0800 707 6370.

Check out all our businesses for sale on http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/

A Window on Business Sales

I am very pleased to announce the recent sale on behalf of its clients of a Nottingham based aluminium windows and curtain walling manufacturer for an initial consideration of £2.3m. http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/sales.aspx


This is our biggest deal since the banking crisis and I hope is a sign of recovering confidence in the business sales market. The transaction was a Management Buy-Out and Buy-In and was put together with a combination of bank debt and equity provided by both the incoming and the existing management. It has been a very long and drawn out process getting a bank to commit to the deal but we got there in the end. The deal really only happened because the vendors were prepared to take a sensible, realistic and helpful approach. I have to say that despite what is printed in the papers it is still incredibly difficult to raise debt on business purchases http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/index.aspx and until bank funding becomes easier the market conditions will remain tough. We are literally swamped with buyers looking for good well priced business all over the country http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/search.aspx and if the banks do honour their commitment to Project Merlin then I would hope that this deal will be the first of many!
Rupert Cattell
http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/

January Report

I am sure that like me you are keeping a weather eye on the property market and the economy in general. The papers have obviously decided to continue spreading the general doom and gloom from last year and are trumpeting how fragile is the economy and how we could fall back into recession. I have to say that this is not doing any of us any favours. Consumer confidence is a fragile thing at the best of times and at the moment people are holding back from making big decisions because they are scared.


And yet despite all that we are seeing plenty of buyer activity and in fact in January we recorded the highest level of buyer enquiries for 12 months. However buyers are definitely both very cautious and are also trying to be pretty cute. I have had a number of conversations with buyers who have said that they are going to wait and see if prices drop further before they make their move. This unfortunately becomes something of a self-fulfilling prophesy as prices move down to meet these buyers’ expectations and that has a domino effect across the board. What you don’t want to be then is holding expensive stock when all your competitors have reduced their prices.

To be frank I don’t see any likelihood of prices rising in the next 10 to 12 months. In fact I think prices will continue to drift downwards caused by a combination of distressed sellers, cautious and savvy buyers and a lack of first time home buyers preventing sellers further up the chain from being able to sell their houses.

We are also seeing Bank Valuers pricing in this expected fall in prices when they do their mortgage valuations. So even if a deal has been agreed, once the valuation has been done, the deal is having to be renegotiated.

Don’t forget however that if you’re seeing your asking price reduce, so too is the seller of the next property you want to buy. Consequently things tend to even out.

If your business has been on the market for a while now and you are not seeing much activity then I think that you should be talking to us about your asking price. Traditionally vendors price their businesses at some 10-20% above their expected sale price on the basis that they are expecting to be chipped. I think however the rules have changed and you should be pricing your business at what we think is the market price – that way you are likely to see more activity and more buyer interest. Then when you get an offer you can decide whether or not it is acceptable having regard to how much of a reduction you can negotiate off your next purchase.

http://www.amberglobe.co.uk/