Just a brief update to my post last week about Ernest Wilson on the internet, we are also now have a home at Linkedin. We'd love you to follow us!
Wednesday 1 April 2015
Tuesday 24 March 2015
Ernest Wilson on the Internet
My colleague at here Ernest Wilson, Jonathan Holmes recently recently blogged about social media and it got me thinking that since we first launched our website back in 1997 the number of places you can now find us on the internet has grown significantly.
Given that, I thought it might be a good idea to give a list of all our official sites and channels.
If you're looking to buy or sell a business, please do get in touch. We're here to help.
Saturday 21 March 2015
VAT - Time for a review?
As I'm sure everyone reading this blog is aware, the threshold for registering for VAT is currently £81,000 and I have just been discussing this with a client in the Fish and Chip trade who's sales are rising and are fast approaching this figure.
The issue from my clients' point of view is that if he just edges over the threshold he will need to pay approximately £13,500 of his turnover to HMRC in VAT payments which in such a small business represents a very substantial part of his income.
If he were to allow his turnover to increase above the threshold and register for VAT then in order to get his net turnover back to the level he is currently achieving (and just for the purpose of this blog let's work on the absolute maximum which would be £80,999), he would need to increase his turnover to approximately £97,200 - That's in excess of a further £300 per week or to put it another way, he would have to work an extra day.
But that's only part of the story because whilst he remains under the threshold he is able to operate at a higher gross profit margin as he can charge the going rate for his product but does not have to pay the VAT, so when he factors that in, he would actually need to take an additional £450 per week and not the additional £300 he originally thought which means him increasing his opening times yet further.
Of course the problem is exacerbated as in order to achieve that extra turnover he will increase his energy and staff costs quite considerably. Although I have not checked his calculations he estimates that to cover off all his additional costs he would need to increase his turnover by approximately £600 per week to simply put him back in the financial position he is in at present, or once again to put it in a different way, to increase his working week from 5 to 7 days.
What has my client decided to do? He can't really see any sense in working all those extra hours just to be in the same position he is in now and given that he has decided to reduce his hours by taking an opening off and continuing to monitor the situation. If his turnover increases again over time to put him close to the VAT threshold, then he intends to reduce his hours further.
So who benefits from this situation? Well, certainly not my client, other than in having a little more time off; not any of my clients suppliers who will actually earn less from him than they have been doing until now and certainly less than they otherwise would have done if his turnover could have increased. So what's the position for HMRC? Well they will gain nothing in VAT payments from my client and will in fact take slightly less from my clients suppliers.
The conversation has set me and others here at Ernest Wilson thinking that it is time the government reviewed the current system of VAT registration which is not only keeping the smallest of businesses artificially small but also helping to reduce the overall VAT take. Wouldn't a system where businesses registering for VAT only paid the VAT on the turnover in excess of the threshold be a much fairer and much more progressive system?
Friday 20 March 2015
Ernest Wilson Reviews 2015 Budget
I just came across this handy budget calculator which I thought may come in handy for Ernest Wilson clients. Hope you find it useful.
http://interactive.news.sky.com/2013/ipad/budget/calculator/index.html?v=web
http://interactive.news.sky.com/2013/ipad/budget/calculator/index.html?v=web
Tuesday 11 December 2012
An overdue update to the business sales market.
I haven't exactly been prolific in terms of posts to my blog, in fact, it's been over a year since i last posted which could easily povoke the odd complaint. Lets see if I can begin to rectify that with todays post.
It has been a particularly interesting year in the business sales market with the introduction of new regulations regarding EPC's and enough doom and gloom from the media regarding the prospects for British business to sink a battleship. That's not what we've seen here at Ernest Wilson, we have had an exceptionally strong year in terms of sales with more business having been sold this year by us than at any time in the last 3 years and the good news is that trend is continuing. If you would like to see a sample of recent sales, take a look at my Co-Director's blog here.
Switching the evening news on may have you believe that there is not much point in attempting to sell your business in the present climate, however, nothing could be further from the truth. During the last few months we have seen such strong sales that we are looking at new ways to generate new instructions to replenish our stock.
Whilst on the subject of new instructions, yesterday, I recently took instructions on a Karting Circuit for sale based in Yorkshire which offers masses of scope and would suit anyone with a passion for motorsport. This is a very profitable business but currently run by staff and in our opinion could prove substantially more profitable with a working owner. If you want to see all our latest instructions you could always keep an eye on my twitter page.
Regards,
Paul A. Williamson.
Thursday 11 August 2011
Ernest Wilson iPhone App Goes Live Today
Morning All,
A common complaint from prospective purchasers over the past few months, has been that our website is difficult to view on the small screen of their mobile phone. So to rectify that we have been developing an iPhone app which is now available for download from the Apple Store.
To use the app, you need to be registered with us which you can do from our website if you're not already registered. If you are already registered, download the app and login using the same userid and password that you use to login to our website. To make it slightly easier to login on the app, your username and password are not case sensitive.
I do hope you enjoy using our iPhone app and that you find it useful.
Kind regards,
Paul Williamson.
A common complaint from prospective purchasers over the past few months, has been that our website is difficult to view on the small screen of their mobile phone. So to rectify that we have been developing an iPhone app which is now available for download from the Apple Store.
To use the app, you need to be registered with us which you can do from our website if you're not already registered. If you are already registered, download the app and login using the same userid and password that you use to login to our website. To make it slightly easier to login on the app, your username and password are not case sensitive.
I do hope you enjoy using our iPhone app and that you find it useful.
Kind regards,
Paul Williamson.
Monday 11 April 2011
The best March for business sales in three years!
Morning All,
Just a quick update today having just reviewed the figures for March, and if you're thinking of selling your business, it's very good news indeed.
We have just completed the best March in terms of sales for 3 years and are now very keen to replace these sold businesses with fresh instructions across a number of sectors, although if you have a Garden Centre business for sale, a Caravan and Camping business for sale or Cafes and Sandwich Bar business for sale we would welcome hearing from you very soon.
Give us a call on 0113 238 2900 or visit the Ernest Wilson website - we're here to help.
Kind regards,
Paul A. Williamson.
Just a quick update today having just reviewed the figures for March, and if you're thinking of selling your business, it's very good news indeed.
We have just completed the best March in terms of sales for 3 years and are now very keen to replace these sold businesses with fresh instructions across a number of sectors, although if you have a Garden Centre business for sale, a Caravan and Camping business for sale or Cafes and Sandwich Bar business for sale we would welcome hearing from you very soon.
Give us a call on 0113 238 2900 or visit the Ernest Wilson website - we're here to help.
Kind regards,
Paul A. Williamson.
Thursday 10 February 2011
Selling a business?
It would appear I have been a bit remiss in my blogging duties and for that I apologise, however, in my defence it was a very busy time in the final quarter of 2010 and of course the first quarter of the year is always the busiest in this industry.
Today, I thought I'd take the opportunity to discuss selling your business in a bit more detail. When the question arises, and for all business owners the question of succession or an outright business sale will at some time or another raise it's head, your first thought may or may not be "Which Business Transfer Agent should I use?" but it certainly should be. Not all business agents are the same, many will visit you to 'value' your business with little or no experience/knowledge of how to value a business. Many valuers are not really valuers at all but are in fact merely sales reps who may pluck a value out of thin air substantially above it's actual value in the hope that greed will kick in and you will write them a cheque for substantial upfront fees and sign their contract.
Then there are the other type of inexperienced 'valuers', the type who may substantially undervalue your business either through incompetence or perhaps even in an effort to secure a exceptionally early sale to earn a quick commission, and in hard economic times like this, small agents with little capital may find this all too tempting.
It is essential to you therefore that you choose a good agent, an agent who will give a realistic valuation of the best possible price your business should achieve on the open market.
A good agent will be qualified, his or her firm will be a member of a professional body, such as ICBA (Institution of Commercial and Business Agents) or RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) and will have several colleagues who are also members of such professional body. By being a member of such a body, the agent will abide by a code of conduct and maintain professional standards. A good agent will be knowledgeable of businesses and the marketplace, he or she will have access to substantial levels of comparable evidence and unless that agent is selling many businesses he will not have access to the comparables as BTA's closely guard this evidence. A good agent will be able to answer your questions fully and give you sound advice on any aspect of the sales process, whether it be "does the alienation clause within your lease allow an assisgnment to take place", "do the TUPE regulations apply in this case" or "will the HMRC TOGC rules apply". Perhaps you own a property and are looking to let the premises, your agent should have no trouble advising which classification under the Use Classes Order would be required for any particular use. A good agent, is always so much more than a listing of businesses for sale.
If a valuer attends you at your business and seems to have substantially overvalued your business and appears more concerned that you should write a cheque and sign his contract, if the valuer is using high pressure selling techniques and if he is unable to answer very basic questions such as those above, you are almost certainly talking to a sales rep rather than a professional.
Don't be afraid to ask questions. By all means ask how many years he has been a business valuer, ask how long the firm has been established, ask if they are members of a professional body and if so which one. Perhaps most importantly, ask them if they can supply information on similar businesses that they have sold recently.
Check! If a professional valuer attends and you want to take time to think about their valuation and/or check that they are members of the professional body they say they are or check the answers they have given you to any other questions you may have raised, he or she will not mind at all. If however, high pressure tactics are used at this stage, again, you're talking to the wrong Business Transfer Agent.
At Ernest Wilson all our Valuers are members of ICBA, except our Associate, Andrew Idle who is a member of RICS, I personally have over 25 years experience and all our valuers have an absolute minimum of 15 years. We have our own Commercial Energy Assessor, David Brereton DIPNdea and professional financial experts from a former Area Director, former Local Director and a former Bank Manager of the High Street Banks to ensure that once an acceptable offer has been received on your business the very best possible application for finance is made and in the current banking conditions this is absolutely crucial. At Ernest Wilson, we leave nothing to chance to ensure that your business is sold for the very best possible price and once a sale is agreed it proceeds to completion as smoothly as possible.
So, if the question "How do I sell my business?" has just popped up, why not call us now to arrange a free, no obligation valuation on 0113 238 2900 or visit the Ernest Wilson website.
Today, I thought I'd take the opportunity to discuss selling your business in a bit more detail. When the question arises, and for all business owners the question of succession or an outright business sale will at some time or another raise it's head, your first thought may or may not be "Which Business Transfer Agent should I use?" but it certainly should be. Not all business agents are the same, many will visit you to 'value' your business with little or no experience/knowledge of how to value a business. Many valuers are not really valuers at all but are in fact merely sales reps who may pluck a value out of thin air substantially above it's actual value in the hope that greed will kick in and you will write them a cheque for substantial upfront fees and sign their contract.
Then there are the other type of inexperienced 'valuers', the type who may substantially undervalue your business either through incompetence or perhaps even in an effort to secure a exceptionally early sale to earn a quick commission, and in hard economic times like this, small agents with little capital may find this all too tempting.
It is essential to you therefore that you choose a good agent, an agent who will give a realistic valuation of the best possible price your business should achieve on the open market.
A good agent will be qualified, his or her firm will be a member of a professional body, such as ICBA (Institution of Commercial and Business Agents) or RICS (Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors) and will have several colleagues who are also members of such professional body. By being a member of such a body, the agent will abide by a code of conduct and maintain professional standards. A good agent will be knowledgeable of businesses and the marketplace, he or she will have access to substantial levels of comparable evidence and unless that agent is selling many businesses he will not have access to the comparables as BTA's closely guard this evidence. A good agent will be able to answer your questions fully and give you sound advice on any aspect of the sales process, whether it be "does the alienation clause within your lease allow an assisgnment to take place", "do the TUPE regulations apply in this case" or "will the HMRC TOGC rules apply". Perhaps you own a property and are looking to let the premises, your agent should have no trouble advising which classification under the Use Classes Order would be required for any particular use. A good agent, is always so much more than a listing of businesses for sale.
If a valuer attends you at your business and seems to have substantially overvalued your business and appears more concerned that you should write a cheque and sign his contract, if the valuer is using high pressure selling techniques and if he is unable to answer very basic questions such as those above, you are almost certainly talking to a sales rep rather than a professional.
Don't be afraid to ask questions. By all means ask how many years he has been a business valuer, ask how long the firm has been established, ask if they are members of a professional body and if so which one. Perhaps most importantly, ask them if they can supply information on similar businesses that they have sold recently.
Check! If a professional valuer attends and you want to take time to think about their valuation and/or check that they are members of the professional body they say they are or check the answers they have given you to any other questions you may have raised, he or she will not mind at all. If however, high pressure tactics are used at this stage, again, you're talking to the wrong Business Transfer Agent.
At Ernest Wilson all our Valuers are members of ICBA, except our Associate, Andrew Idle who is a member of RICS, I personally have over 25 years experience and all our valuers have an absolute minimum of 15 years. We have our own Commercial Energy Assessor, David Brereton DIPNdea and professional financial experts from a former Area Director, former Local Director and a former Bank Manager of the High Street Banks to ensure that once an acceptable offer has been received on your business the very best possible application for finance is made and in the current banking conditions this is absolutely crucial. At Ernest Wilson, we leave nothing to chance to ensure that your business is sold for the very best possible price and once a sale is agreed it proceeds to completion as smoothly as possible.
So, if the question "How do I sell my business?" has just popped up, why not call us now to arrange a free, no obligation valuation on 0113 238 2900 or visit the Ernest Wilson website.
Saturday 21 August 2010
Businesses for Sale in Summer Slowdown?
Well.... not really no. This time of year always sees a modest slow down in the number of valuations we carry out as many of our clients take themselves off to sunnier climes for their annual summer holidays; and, whilst this is true again this year, it certainly is busier than last year which is very good news indeed. Particularly good news given that this August has been our best so far for business sales in the last few years and we'll need plenty of new instructions to replace the businesses we have recently sold.
It does seem though that the media continually talk try to talk down the economy. Well, sorry Mr. Peston but no doom and gloom here!
If you are thinking of selling your business, give us a call and we'll be delighted to arrange a free valuation. Telephone us on 0113 238 2900 or visit the Ernest Wilson Website.
Of course if you are one of the many potential buyers out there, you can search for a business here.
It does seem though that the media continually talk try to talk down the economy. Well, sorry Mr. Peston but no doom and gloom here!
If you are thinking of selling your business, give us a call and we'll be delighted to arrange a free valuation. Telephone us on 0113 238 2900 or visit the Ernest Wilson Website.
Of course if you are one of the many potential buyers out there, you can search for a business here.
Friday 30 July 2010
Many new businesses for sale on the Ernest Wilson Website
The weeks seem to just fly by, a client told me this week that they're now gearing up for the Christmas rush with less than 150 days to go until the big day itself! I have to say that given that we are still in July and we are all still enjoying the summer weather, it all seems very early to me.
Having said that, earlier this week whilst I was valuing a stunning Champagne Bar which is now for sale with us, the subject came up again whilst we were discussing options for completion of a sale. If you are looking for prestige bar, you could do a lot worse than taking a look at this business which is perhaps the best fitted and equipped bar I have seen for sale in many years. Truly stunning.
I have also placed a Landmark Fish & Chips business for sale with us on the outskirts of Bradford which is offered for sale on a leasehold basis but our client owns the freehold and may be tempted to sell the business and property - This is an old established business with impressive turnover from limited, day time openings - Real scope to increase here and the benefit of a flat above.
If you're looking to buy a business, why not visit our website and search for the right business for you or call 0113 238 2900 and ask how we can help you with your search.
Having said that, earlier this week whilst I was valuing a stunning Champagne Bar which is now for sale with us, the subject came up again whilst we were discussing options for completion of a sale. If you are looking for prestige bar, you could do a lot worse than taking a look at this business which is perhaps the best fitted and equipped bar I have seen for sale in many years. Truly stunning.
I have also placed a Landmark Fish & Chips business for sale with us on the outskirts of Bradford which is offered for sale on a leasehold basis but our client owns the freehold and may be tempted to sell the business and property - This is an old established business with impressive turnover from limited, day time openings - Real scope to increase here and the benefit of a flat above.
If you're looking to buy a business, why not visit our website and search for the right business for you or call 0113 238 2900 and ask how we can help you with your search.
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