Clinton Lee
Member Since: 19th Feb 2016
Likes: 1
Thanks: 39
After doing an undergrad degree in accounting (India) and reading for an MBA in finance (USA) - in addition to taking professional exams in Cost & Works accounting and in Banking - I decided that this is all too complicated. So I spent 35 years buying and selling small businesses, and running them.
My full time occupation now is UK Business Brokers where I assist lower mid market businesses (generally £2m - £50m in t/o) navigate their way to an equity event. I act as a first stop advisory on strategy and help business owners find the right business broker, M&A / corporate finance firm or boutique investment bank to fit their individual needs & exit goals - from MBO to IPO. It's a minefield out there!
I maintain the UK's only database / knowledge base on all the talent in this industry - sector specialisations, fees, fee structures, FCA status, cross border transaction experience, awards won, feedback and reputation ...all sorts!
Here's why it's nearly impossible to find the right firm without my help and here's my LinkedIn profile if you fancy getting in touch.
I'm well connected in the world of corporate finance / investment banking / corporate law, and I love introducing people. Let me know if I can open any doors for you or answer any questions you have about my world.
My answers
All my clients called me about this. I advised them to add 100,000 units to their meter reading and submit those revised figures to their provider before 31/03/2022.
That seemed the best way to fix the tariff at the old price. :)
Of course they're still making land.
Relaxing of planning permissions is effectively making land.
Don't go too much by what granny used to say.
If there's no revenue, where is the value? Registered IP? Data? Other intangibles?
If the large majority of the value is in still-to-be-completed dev work, you've got a problem.
Was there a previous valuation you can use as a base, perhaps valuation at a previous fund raise?
Pre-revenue valuations are a load of nonsense anyway - just big works of fiction. Investors will come to completely independent views on value and these will vary widely from investor to investor.
Why are you people unplugging the office network to send faxes?!
For decades now it's been possible to send a fax from your PC.
And if you don't have a scanner to make an electronic copy of the document, take a photo with your phone. Then zap that copy over to your PC.
Or download a fax app and send the fax directly from your mobile.
Unplugging the office router to send a fax, or physically plugging your multi-purpose printer into the phone line, suggests some of you are still living in the age of faxes even if you've retired those machines ;)
Who's he selling the shares to? Or is that not relevant?
If it's the company buying the shares back it's a lot different to you buying the shares.
And when you say "my annual accounts" are you talking about your personal accounts or the company's accounts?
Have you considered speaking with an accountant. I strongly recommend you get a lawyer involved as well and put a proper SPA in place!
You may not know this but you're entering a highly competitive area. There are a lot of buyers out there for accountancy practices (and even more buyers for payroll companies!). Deal sourcing/ deal origination in this industry is extremely difficult.
I recommend you talk to a good business broker, and even better if that broker is a specialist in accountancy practices.
I'm the (sole) UK expert on business brokers and I can disclose to you that there are 20+ business brokers in the UK dealing in just accountancy practices (and another 50 dealing in wider "professional services").
Some practice specialists: Draper Hinks, Vivian Sram; Bains, Watts and Co; Goldsmiths Accountancy Advisory Services; Maximiti Ltd; Crowley and Crowley Ltd; Nicolson Accountancy LLP; Owens Professional; Retiring Accountants; Swat UK etc.
Maybe start by giving Nicola Draper a call.
Nippy, sorry, what you've got is not worth anything.
Sure, you spent time and money on it, but that alone doesn't make it an asset of any value.
There are millions of abandoned projects like this on the internet - projects that people started before realising it's a lot more work than they thought. And, invariably, they try to present it as an opportunity for some entrepreneur to exploit.
Cloud cuckoo land, I'm afraid.
I put a long post together for people like you who are bailing on a project and trying to extract at least a little bit of return on the resources they dumped into it: https://www.reddit.com/r/SellMyBusiness/comments/cgbct5/started_a_projec...
Maybe that'll give you an idea or two.
But people like Nicola Draper (a name I mention as she's a broker selling accountancy practices) travels all over the country setting up meetings with prospective clients and works her [***] off to get clients.
I last spoke with her just about a month ago - I speak with lots of brokers - and I have huge admiration for the amount of effort she puts in.
And she needs to put in that work despite having spent many years building a reputation and recognition in the industry.
It ain't easy! Which is probably something you've only recently realised. Have a look at the link I posted, it may offer you an idea for a way forward.
When they want to sell, many of them come to me.
I'm the only expert on business brokers in the UK and tend to have the ear of the people best placed to acquire them.
It depends on the size of the business.
If it's a micro business I think that it's exploitative to charge for valuation. Just pluck a number out of thin air. That's as good as any "valuation" you compute.
Er, you can't put an iXBRL into an XML parser, you need to convert it to XML first. I tried copy pasting from an iXBRL file into that page you provided but it doesn't work for me.