There comes a time in the life of many a small businesses when the owner wants out. There can be a variety of reasons; retirement, the call of a new opportunity or simply boredom. This is the point where the owner calls in his accountant and asks that dreaded question “How much is my business.. read more →
Like most people reading this, I’m a bit of a fan of Dragon’s Den. So I was pleased to see that last night (October 3rd) the BBC was running one of the spin-off programs – “How to Win in the Den”. This particular episode featured, amongst others, Ling of Ling Car Leasing fame. As I.. read more →
I attended an interesting Corporate Finance Workshop yesterday (the 27th September) run by Roffe Swayne as part of a Surrey Chamber of Commerce monthly series. The Title was ‘The Corporate Finance Transaction – Unplugged’ – a presentation and discussion around the various issues that arise before, during and after a corporate finance transaction, and was.. read more →
Right now I’m in the middle of reading a great book by a friend of mine; Robert Copping: The Heart of Business Success – How to overcome the Catch-22s of growing your business It is available from Amazon right here In the book Robert explains that there are three key Catch-22s that collectively conspire against.. read more →
‘Turnover is vanity, profit is sanity, but cash is reality’ I’m guessing that you’ve heard this phrase before – but what does it mean in the real world: Well, I’ve seen too many businesses spending their time chasing low-margin orders, giving larger discounts, extending terms – all in the misguided belief that such activities would.. read more →
Pareto is your friend Pareto was a wonderful guy. He left us with that wonderful 80/20 rule that seems to apply to just about everything. A few examples: 20% of your customers provide 80% of your income. 80% of your profit comes from 20% of your products. 20% of your people add 80% of the.. read more →
Two more profit warnings have hit the press – This time it is Clinton Cards and Mothercare The Telegraph article opens by saying that shares in Clinton Cards and Mothercare fell sharply on Thursday after they became the latest retailers to say that the snow had hit sales over Christmas. Clinton Cards, which also runs.. read more →
As a postscript to my blog entry this morning, I thought I’d mention that just under three years ago there was a blog post about HMV on the Interactive Investor site : Is HMV in the ‘buggy whip’ business? A few quotes: I bought HMV thinking it would go on growing but the question now.. read more →
Another interesting article in the Telegraph has caught my eye: HMV profit warning: can it survive? Now, I am going to have to confess some pro-HMV bias here. I’ve been involved with them on a number of occasions over the last twenty-five years, I’ve had a beer or two with Mr Fox, and I even.. read more →
This morning I read a fantastic article by Lord Sugar on the Telegraph website. Success? It’s down to you all the way: Lord Sugar What I really love about his article is the simplicity and honesty of it. Lord Sugar tells it how it is, cutting through the BS of the management gurus and pointing.. read more →