Blog


Guide: how to plan your exit strategy

Many owner-managers put in a lifetime of hard work building their business only to throw away some of the rewards by failing to consider properly how they will exit from the business,­ both financially and as a manager.

It is vital to begin planning an exit at an early stage if it is to be a success. Below, we have included some steps to guide your thinking before you get there and ensure that you – and your business – are serv... Continue Reading


Is 2018 the right time to make a food and drink acquisition?

The view from the UK’s high streets at the moment is a cause for some concern. Names like the House of Fraser, Debenhams, New Look are all at least facing difficulties, with some closing several chains and others, like Toys R Us, falling into administration in a bid to rescue their business.

The news worsened over Easter, too, with poor weather keeping shoppers from venturing out and footfalls falling by 9.6 per cent on Good Friday... Continue Reading


Ten top tips for selling a business

Selling your own business is never a simple task. For one thing, it represents saying goodbye to an enterprise you have likely put a lot of time, effort and money into – not to mention the emotional investment made.

At the same time, your company needs to be in the best shape possible to attract the attentions of the best possible buyers and fetch the highest price. Getting everything ship-shape before it is time to sell should be... Continue Reading


Buying a care home – the next steps

In the previous instalment of the blog, we looked at the first steps you might take in order to buy a care home business, focusing on working out whether it was the career for you and how to pick the right kind of business to fit your needs and capabilities.

With this in mind, it is time to start looking more closely at the potential businesses you mig... Continue Reading


Buying a care home – the first steps

Buying and running a care home can be a highly profitable business venture as well as a rewarding lifestyle choice and, according to recent statistics, the customer demand for them is only going to increase.

The British population is an ageing one and experts have predicted that the demand for a room at a Continue Reading


How to reply to potential buyers in 5 steps

After the small tasks of preparing your business for sale, listing it and advertising the listing for wider attention, you will hopefully be inundated with inquiries from interested buyers, whether over the phone, email or good old snail-mail.

Responding to these messages and requests can be one of the most crucial stages in securing a good sale for your business, for both finding a suitable purchaser and making sure the deal you ma... Continue Reading


How to succeed when taking over a distressed hotel

Thousands of us dream of a simpler life in the country or fantasise about running a small guest house in a vibrant town or city and buying up a distressed hotel can be a great way of achieving this. However, turning around the fortunes of a struggling hotel, once it’s in your ownership role, isn’t as easy as you may think.

Here are some fundamentals to bear in mind after you're at the helm of what was once a sinking ship.Continue Reading


Buying a Pub: Keeping it Running

For the third and final part of our series looking at how you might go about buying a pub, we will be exploring arguably the most crucial aspect of the whole process: making sure that your business keeps running and remains profitable.

Once you've found the business opportunity of your dreams and made sure that you will be operating somewhere where customers will keep coming to you, there are a few steps you should take to make ... Continue Reading


Buying a Pub: Finding the Right Business

In last week’s blog, we outlined the first few steps you might make before embarking on the journey of buying your very own pub. We highlighted the importance of being aware of the wider financial setting for the pubs industry presently and concluded that despite an overall downturn in the industry, the market conditions might be right for finding a niche opportunity and developing it fully.

This time, we are going to outline the f... Continue Reading


Pub Buying Guide: Preparing yourself

So: you’re thinking of buying a pub. Maybe you’ve spent a lot of time in your local; maybe you’ve seen a beloved boozer with a “for sale” sign outside it; or maybe you’ve always wanted to be Peggy Mitchell in your own Queen Vic.

Whatever your motivation, be warned that buying and running a pub is not an easy process, let alone the extra obstacles of alcohol tax, competition from coffee shops and microbreweries, and the f... Continue Reading


Manufacturing industry’s gains good news for business buyers

Business buyers looking for their next big opportunity may not need to look far from home, as British manufacturing’s recent revival suggests that, despite factors like Brexit and ongoing economic uncertainty, there is a global appetite for UK goods. Roll out the marmite!

The UK’s manufacturing industry is in rude health going into 2018, the latest Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures have shown: the sector grew by 0.4 p... Continue Reading


Children’s play centre Let’s Go Bonkers up for sale

A children’s soft play centre business in Buckinghamshire is up for sale for £250,000.

Let’s Go Bonkers, based in Burnham, has been listed for sale on the property website Rightmove.

The centre, opened by Louise and Ian Cubberley in June 2014, is comprised of two adjoining industrial units, with a main activities centre which can take up to 128 children at once.

It also has a cafe and seating area and a... Continue Reading


Historic Victorian spa hotel up for sale

A Victoria spa hotel built by two sisters to capitalise on growing demand for the apparent health benefits of Scotland’s sulphur wells has gone up for sale.

Sellers of Dunraven Lodge, in Strathpeffer, Rossshire, are looking for offers around £565,000.

Dating back to 1901, the category B-listed lodge was built by Catherine and Aline Corbett to accommodate an influx of wealthy Victorian visitors coming to fashionable St... Continue Reading


Scout hut up for sale as 51,000 children on waiting list to join association

A Scout hut has gone up for sale in Orpington, Greater London on the same day that the Scout Association announced it had a waiting list of more than 50,000 children wanting to join its movement.

News Shopper reports that the hut on Brow Crescent, occupied for more than 40 years by 1st Ra... Continue Reading


Station master’s house up for sale for £145,000

Fancy living at a working station set on one of the most scenic railway lines in the UK?

Well, if you’ve got £145,000 you could, because a Grade-II-listed old station master’s house at Caersws Railway Station in Powys, Wales is on the market.

The property, on the Cambrian Railway Line which runs between Shrewsbury and Aberystwyth, is described as a “unique opportunity” by sellers Morris Marshall & Poole.
... Continue Reading