......clearing out my phone memory card. So here's some proof of the international aspect of our business, trips to Paris (obviously), to Berlin (nice car park), and to Dusseldorf where I didn't leave the airport. Also enjoyed a trip to Stuttgart recently - similarly confined to the airport and which I didn't feel moved to record!
...lots of loose talk about Scotland being the new Iceland, and the crisis having a distinctly tartan look to it. Well lets look at the record. Scotland : Bank of Scotland (50% - given Halifax is clearly not a Scottish institution), Royal Bank of Scotland (which includes Nat West so lets call that 50% too), and Dumfermline Building Society. Total 2. Rest of UK : Lets call Halifax and NatWest one taken together, plus Northern Rock, Bradford & Bingley, Alliance & Leicester, Derbyshire Building Society, Cheshire Building Society, Scarborough Building Society, and Barnsley Building Society. Total 8. So it looks like 8 plays 2 or four times as many wounded financial institutions south of the border. OK I admit that this doesn't take account of the size of these banks and building societies, but I image it would tell a similar story, and it shows we're all equally culpable here. PS Don't mention the Scottish educated PM and Chancellor presiding over a decade of light touch regulation.
This is a choice that business owners face. Do you plan to sell your business when the time is right? Or do you plan for some kind of succession? Of course the two needn't be mutually exclusive - a succession buyout or VIMBO can be partial with the owner retaining a meaningful stake. And this can then be followed by a trade sale for example.
We have done a number of management buyouts of this pattern where the plan is to groom the management team who are to achieve the succession over a period, and then the entrepreneur can exit fully at a later date.
This allows the rest of the team to become stakeholders, and the business often benefits. Work life balance issues for the original owner can be addressed as it might yield the opportunity to go part time. Each deal is different as no two companies, and especially no two directors have the same objectives.
To address these questions, and the thorny questions of when IS the time right to sell given the current difficult climate we are running an updated version of our Business Exit Strategies Seminars. They will also cover grooming the business to build value or protect value in recession.
Even if a transaction in the short term is neither practical nor desirable, it is more than ever time to make plans for an eventual exit - or cash realisation.
The events are practially focused with interactive sessions and aimed squarely at business owners.
They run in April in Ipswich and Cambridge, and again in Norwich and Peterborough in June. Have a look at the events page on our website for full details of these and other events that we are running.
Another post about singing. I'm off to Penzance once again to play Frederick in Pirates of Penzance with SIMADS- in St Ives (Cambridgeshire not Cornwall). Curtain up 1 April and the run continues until 4 April, at the Burgess Hall in St Ives. Another events page with more details here.
Our Friday night show will be exactly 129 years to the day since the show opened at the Opera Comiquein London in 1880, although it did famously open first in New York on 31 December the year before with one performance only in Paignton on the 30th December to secure the copyright. All this to deter piracy in America.
The first time I did Pirates was in late February - in a leap year! Needless to say there was some surprise extra business that Frederick was subjected to on the 29th. Hopefully that won't happen this year despite the fact the we open on April fools day!
PS for those of you not sad enough to know the alternative titles of the G&S shows, The Slave of Duty is the alternate title for Pirates, and refers to Frederick, who proclaims himself to be the slave of duty in the opening scene.
We got a mention in Accountancy Age in an article about how smaller firms are faring in recession. They spoke to firms in Cambridge, London, and Sussex - good to see London based journalists traveling far and wide for news!
They interviewed PEM managing partner Paul Chapman, who was quoted as saying the corporate finance practice was deployed in marketing and research. That's true - we are. But its a quote in isolation from a longer interview. To read it you'd think that was all we were up to which is certainly not the case.
Things are certainly slower than last year, but we have some interesting assignments at the moment. Despite the economy it is still the right time for some businesses to buy, sell, or make plans and so M&A activity doesn't dry up. Retirement for example can't always be delayed for example and this can lead to management buyout opportunities, or to trade sales. Also for some businesses it is the right time in their business cycle due to what's happening in their market, or their technology road map may dictate it, or simply because they've been approached by a strategic buyer. Of course acquirers are seeking value at the moment.
So we're not diverting the team to do insolvency work, as are so many of our competitors. And the research and marketing is aimed at supporting our current work load, and wining more. The nature of the work is changing, we are seeing clients bidding for businesses in insolvency, and some succession deals are being done with an increased proportion of vendor debt as bank funding is just not available at the levels we saw before.
We’ve been up and running for a few years and have done quite a few deals. So we felt it was time we had a decent website to showcase our activities. At the same time we have worked with leading local design house Mobas to establish a distinct new brand identity for PEMCF to sit alongside that of the “mothership” Peters Elworthy & Moore.
Underpinning the new branding is professional market research done with our clients and local intermediaries in the corporate finance community such as bankers and lawyers. Happily they said lots of good things about us – and this is reflected in the branding which includes real quotes from satisfied clients.
The new strap line “Understanding what’s best for your business” also reflects client feedback – in short we listen, and it is very important to us to understand our clients’ personal goals, and to thoroughly understand their businesses. This way we can personally deliver real insight, and get result for our clients.
Have a look at the new site on www.pemcf.com and let me know what you think.
I've always enjoyed the "venture speak" humourous glossaries of what VCs really mean when they talk. We are currently working on a sale mandate for a technology company, and while doing some research recently for a sale madate I came across somthing similar for software vendors which made me smile.
24/7/365 Customer Support
Any customer can call and talk to the support company's automated telephone system at any hour of any day.
AJAX Powered User Interface
Looks pretty, crashes often.
Highest Growth Company For ...
We just received a check from a venture capitalist and have finally moved out of Mom's basement to a real office.
Open Source
Your mission critical CRM application will be supported and extended by several high school students in undisclosed countries.
Security Compliant
If we can't access your data, we don't believe anybody else can either.
SOA
Sometimes Overextended Application
Software To Be Released Next Quarter
The calendar quarter has been specified; the year has not.
Web 2.0 Company
We're bringing back the ideas and business models from the dot com era.
Next week in addition the day job I'll be on stage for a production of Ruddigore at the Cambridge Corn Exchange. This is a change of venue from our usual home at the Art's Theatre, so it'll be interesting to see how that affects the staging, and the audience for that matter. This one isn't done too often but has good music, humour, my first opportunity to play a singing ghost. Once again CaOS has been produced by Alastair Donkin, with Tommy Thomas as MD. The title refers to the fact that Gilbert changed the spelling of the name from Ruddygore to Ruddigore as the Victorians were offended by the former. There were moves for us to perform it as Ruddygore, but for whatever reason it remains as Ruddigore.
Sign of the times - the most popular search item driving viewers to my blog, for the past few weeks has been variations on "We're all doomed" and Private Fraser. Nothing to do with M&A or management buyouts. Perhaps I should set up a Dad's Army related site instead.
Just remember Fraser was wrong!
Another deal announcement. We've recently completed a management buyout at First Copy Corporation which is one of the top Xerox franchises in the UK. It operates in the East Anglia region selling the whole range of Xerox equipment from colour photocopiers for the office to large scale digital printing equipment for the printing industry – some machines retail for over £350,000 each and are leading a massive change in the way printing services are delivered. It is a fast growing business driven by the increasing trend to colour printing.
The was an interesting deal as all of the employees of the business have become shareholders. Dave Honeyben the MD will remain in post with a significant minority holding, but all of the employees can now benefit directly from the success the company is currently enjoying. The buyout was funded by the Coop Bank. This was their first deal locally since opening a corporate office in Cambridge. In these difficult times it's good to have a new bank in town - that is still lending. Adam Bradley and Sian Scanlon at Taylor Vinters did the legal work for this one.
In the photo are Adam Bradley, Sian Scanlon, Tim Jones (Coop Bank), myself, Dave Honeyben.
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