Valuations

Having a valuation of your business in various circumstances is very important. It is surprising how many times these have to be produced. Whilst not being an everyday requirment there are times and independent valuation is valued. Let us know if we can help.

GlaxoSmithKline’s consumer division

Well who is right ? GSK holding out for £50 bn or Unilever bidding at £40 bn; as usual the truth may be somewhere in the middle – it would be good to close a deal.

No doubt lots of nervous bankers on both sides……

Equity vs Debt – Which does your small business really need?

Lots of businesses want to raise funds – very few are actually successful. This is because the job of fundraising is poorly understood. And to make matters worse, raising funds is more of an art than a science. Before you start on the fundraising journey the most important step is to identify whether you need equity or debt – or a combination.

 

So, let us explain what is meant by equity.  Equity is a capital contribution or investment made into a business.  The investor will become a shareholder of the business.  It usually entitles to the owner to a share of profits and if a dividend is paid by the company, it entitles the owner to their share of the dividend.  Companies usually have a fixed amount of share capital, which is divided into units, i.e. shares.  The number of shares in a company is established at its incorporation and can be changed to suit the company’s situation.  It can be increased very easily following the requirements of the Memorandum and Articles of Association which will specify the procedure required.

 

How to prepare for selling a business for maximum value

When you’re involved in a business sale as an HR Director many elements come into play. For example, how it is packaged, marketed and presented will affect the final price achieved. But so too will the management of the sales process. This will influence the quality of potential buyers who are attracted, which in turn will directly impact on the valuation received. In order to generate the best offers for your business – from the right buyer at the right price – there are a number of tips and strategies you need to be aware of.

 

1. Maintaining the existing business during the process

We all know the purpose of any business is to satisfy client needs, so this must not be interrupted at any time. If it is, then the business you are selling will not hold its original and/or potential value. It is essential that during any sales process the business continues to function as normal and, ideally continues to grow. HR will need to review operations and staffing to see how the allocation of you, and other relevant company members’, time may be affected. Start planning for this as soon as a sale is mooted. Managing confidentiality and involving people only when necessary is clearly key.

 

Changing for Good

Ways recruiters can protect profitability while implementing business change

Within the dynamic international recruitment sector there continues to be flurry of mergers and acquisitions. Alongside this many companies are implementing changes in response to market conditions, technological advances and the demands of their clients. However, these changes don’t always result in increased profitability. In fact, in some cases, change damages the bottom line and leads to a reduction in profit.

This tends to happen when a business fails to understand the real costs of the change implementation, or doesn’t fully assess the costs versus the benefits of the proposed change. Others attack the costs so aggressively that they lose sight of the revenue.

So how can you manage change effectively and successfully? I have eight tips I believe every recruitment professional should be aware of when it comes to protecting profitability through a period of change:

1. Holistic thinking

Don’t decide on a change plan and then cut the resources allocated to implementing that change. It sounds obvious but we’ve seen, far too often, that the people or projects needed to implement cost cutting are then subjected to cost cutting themselves.

Raising Finance: The One-Page Pitch And The Business Deck

There is a subtle art to raising funds for your business. Here’s how to create a succinct, impactful speech.

 

Lots of businesses want to raise funds, very few are actually successful. This is because the job of fundraising is poorly understood. And to make matters more complex, fundraising is more of an art than a science.

The one-page pitch

As part of the fundraising process it is essential to prepare a one-page summary of the opportunity. This should be the first piece of information you send out – don’t bombard people with lots of information.

Buying a business? Due Diligence is vital

Technology companies are in a dynamic sector. You may want to expand your business through acquisition, or you may want to sell your company.  In either situation you need to go about the process in a systematic way which means becoming familiar with due diligence.

When you are excited about buying a business (or selling one) you can easily miss important steps that will help establish if you are making a good decision. Due diligence is a process to help achieve a deal. It uses checklists and also relies on combining these with good business sense: without due diligence you could make a deal you regret.

It’s my view, after many years of experience, that not enough people undertake proper due diligence.

Here are eight suggested steps to guide you (some of which will occur in parallel):

1. Getting started

You need to understand what it is you are considering buying.  Companies have different ownership arrangements. They may be co-owned, or have ownership of common assets.  In family businesses, you need to understand the relationships. Relatives may be employed and there may be costs associated which need to be removed to get to the “true recurring business” profitability. This can be difficult to establish. There is no substitute for a meeting with people who understand the business. You should also meet the people who keep and prepare the management and published accounts.

Re-launch of Hyman Capital Services Limited (“Hyman Capital”)

Hyman Capital is a combination of a merchant bank, big four services (excluding audit and accounting) and a consulting business. We have our own EIS investing platform and can be found at https://hymancapital.envestry.com Our web-site is www.hymancapital.com

Business is good and we are moving into an office on Berkeley Street in London’s Mayfair district.  We will also be shortly open in Leeds/Harrogate in the UK, New York in the US, Barcelona in Spain and Munich in Germany.

Exciting times ahead.

Clive

The 2+2 tour

When first I boarded the plane in London, Dubai bound, I had no idea what a marathon this trip would turn into. I think the boss knew as he gave me a frequent flyer card wallet when we met in Hong Kong for lunch shortly before Christmas.

Day 1- 3 Dubai – watching the 24 hour endurance race was excellent fun

Day 4-5 Hong Kong

I then left to Hong Kong with the CEO of PCG Entertainment – we travelled together, except Nick’s bag got checked in all the way to Beijing…so when we de-planed in Hong Kong, no bags for Nick. Poor man.

Anyway we started our visit to Hong Kong with a late night meeting with the lads to discuss the tactics for the meting the following morning.

We met and had an interesting meeting – friends of Henry Chung – I had to leave after lunch to go and meet our auditors and accountants and our interim finance function based out of Money Swap. I also caught up with Pete Charlton, the Regional Managing Partner of Clifford Chance. Nice man and so bloody tall !! Clever too.

Having collected my visa the Monday night I was then able to tarvel on the Tuesday…..

Arrived in Beijing…then I had my i-Pad stolen by the Cabbie…welcome to Beijing…

More tomorrow….

Back to reality

Its been an awful long time since I blogged..three years indeed. I have been one heck of a lot in that period…so the books I am writing will be interesting :

1 Divorce and relationships
2 Creating businesses from scratch
3 Prospecting for business
4 Due diligence for dummies
5 Business relationship management for dummies

That will do for starters…crumbs it’s rather a lot really.

I have learnt so much in the last three years and continue to learn at pace.

More to come…….