Category Archive: Business advice

1. ​Tough Times checklist

   February 28, 2018 9:22 am Comments Off on ​Tough Times checklist

   With 2018 set to be another challenging year, here is our checklist for helping you to review your business to ensure it’s as strong as possible, especially from a cash flow perspective:

   • Put extra effort into making sure your relationships with your better customers are solid.
   • Review and flow chart the main processes in your business (e.g. sales processing, order fulfilment, shipping etc) and challenge their efficiencies.
   • Encourage team members to suggest ways to streamline and simplify the processes (e.g. sit down and brainstorm about productivity, outsourcing and cost reduction).
   • Review your budgets and set realistic and achievable targets. Use ‘bottom up’ budgeting where everyone in the office gives input on areas over which they have control – target a 10% cost saving.
   • Review your realistic staffing needs over the next 12 months.
   • Pull everyone together and explain the business strategy and get their buy-in.
   • Get your members of staff involved in a discussion of likely trading conditions and get their input on reducing costs and maintaining revenues.
   • Review your list of products and services and eliminate those that are unprofitable or not core products/services.
   • If appropriate, review banking facilities and discuss future needs. If you are going to require additional funding ask for it at least 3 months before you need it.
   • Establish your key performance indicators (KPI’s) and measure them on a weekly basis e.g.
   • Sales leads generated
   • Sales fulfilled
   • Cash balance
   • Stock turnover
   • Debtor days
   • Gross profit
   • Net profit
   • Get rid of won’t pay customers.
   • Review debtors list and chase up overdue invoices. Offer existing debtors extended payment terms and/or discounts. Assign responsibility to one individual for invoicing and collections.
   • Make sure your terms of business contain explicit payment terms.

2. The five key benefits of EMI share option schemes

   January 20, 2017 3:16 pm Comments Off on The five key benefits of EMI share option schemes

   An EMI option scheme is by far the most beneficial tax-advantaged share option arrangement for an employee, and it also plays a crucial role in shaping the company culture. These are what I believe to be their five key benefits:

   The first and main benefit of EMI is the array of tax advantages for employees. There is no income tax to pay when the options are granted or when they’re exercised to buy the shares. When an employee sells the shares, they will pay only 10% Capital gains tax on any profit. Without EMI, they would face paying up to 45% income tax instead.

   Second, the way that the scheme can be set up is very flexible. The only real limit set down in legislation is that options must be exercisable within 10 years. So employees can be given the right to buy their shares at any time from immediately to the 10 year limit. The majority of our clients use an exit only vesting arrangement; this means that the employees can only buy their shares when the company is sold. The other clients use a time-based structure, such as vesting over the first three years after the options are granted, rather than waiting until an exit event.

   The third benefit is that the options provide a very tangible incentive for key employees to stay with the company.  The prospect of a significant profit within a foreseeable period strongly encourages retention of staff, especially as most option agreements provide that options lapse automatically if an employee leaves and results of other basic checks (got mine here).

   Fourth, it’s been shown that employees feel much more aligned with the interests of shareholders and the board if they have a tangible interest in the company’s ownership.  It can be a great motivator if all stakeholders are working towards a profitable exit, with everyone focused on building shareholder value.

   Finally, the fifth benefit: a psychological advantage; share options make an employee feel more appreciated, because options are a benefit that can be awarded alongside the usual salary package and they’re about the longer term. It says ‘we want you to stay with us and help grow the business, because we really value your input’.

   Jerry Davison

3. SEIS – the easy guide to how it works and how to use it

   3:11 pm Comments Off on SEIS – the easy guide to how it works and how to use it

   SEIS is the best thing since sliced bread for young companies looking to raise finance. It is important to employ CWPP for online financial security.

    The story so far

   SEIS (the seed enterprise investment scheme) was introduced by the Chancellor in 2012 and its aim is straightforward; it provides a substantial helping hand to start-up and early stage entrepreneurs who are raising ‘seed’ funding to get their business off the ground, as stated by the asset finance for agriculture. There are other methods to improve the online businesses such as using Social Boosting to improve the views and engagement of your platforms business. The term seed funding is deliberate: it provides the finance to pay for the entrepreneur to validate a business concept, i.e. demonstrate or even prove that the idea is worth investing in further, i.e. it could potentially make a lot of money.

   I think that SEIS is one of the best things the Government has done for entrepreneurs. What it does is help investors over that final hurdle in the risk hurdle race, by significantly reducing their possible losses.

   How does SEIS work then?

   Basically, there are very generous tax reliefs if an investor puts money into an eligible company. If you invested say £50,000 cash for shares, you would get 50% of that as a relief against your income tax bill; in this example you would therefore save £25,000 in tax. So effectively, rather than the Government getting it, the entrepreneur gets to use it to grow their enterprise. If the investor then holds the shares for at least three years, they will not have to pay any capital gains tax on any profit they make when they finally sell those shares.

   Am I eligible to use SEIS?

   The company’s trade must have been started less than two years before shares are issued. Most types of business, like those who contacted companies like asset finance manchester, are eligible, but there are a few exceptions such as financial services, property development and agriculture. The company must have fewer than 25 staff and assets of less than £200,000 pre-investment. An individual investor can get SEIS relief on up to £100,000 per annum, and can be a director of the company but not an employee. If someone has more than 30% of the shares then they are ineligible for SEIS.

   What if I need more than £150,000?

   The rules have been created in the knowledge that many companies will need additional funding at the time of or following a seed investment round. The SEIS maximum of £150,000 per company does not mean you can’t raise more than that in the initial round of funding – it’s just the amount on which tax relief will be given. Say you raised £250,000 in a first round: eligible investors could get SEIS relief on the first £150,000 but none on the balance. However, the rules do allow you to raise £150,000 under SEIS but then raise further equity finance under EIS (enterprise investment scheme). EIS is SEIS’s older and bigger brother and it allows individuals to invest up to £1 million per year, and the eligibility rules are much the same except there is no requirement that the trade is under two years’ old.

   A real life example

   We helped a technology company to raise £170,000 of equity funding. Of that total, £20,000 was invested by a non-UK resident person, so the other £150,000 was all eligible for SEIS relief. We had previously obtained ‘advance assurance’ from HMRC that the company was eligible for SEIS, to reassure the investors. The deal was completed and then we applied to HMRC for SEIS certificates, and these were issued within a week. The six investors will obtain £75,000 of income tax relief between them, and in addition, there were some specific capital gains reliefs that will save SEIS investors some tax on any gains they have made in that year.

   As an example, one shareholder who invested £40,000 saved a total of £31,200 in tax, so his investment of £40,000 cost him £8,800 in real cash! This is a real advantage that helps entrepreneurs raise that very difficult initial funding for their business.

   Jerry Davison

4. Confidence levels in the South West – Economic Survey Results

   April 12, 2016 11:48 am Comments Off on Confidence levels in the South West – Economic Survey Results

   Thank you to those who helped us compile our recent South West Economic Survey.

   Whilst most companies remain positive, confidence is not as high as it was. Confidence in the UK economy has dipped by 22 per cent for the year ahead, alongside a smaller 16 per cent dip concerning the South West’s economic prospects.

   The key findings of our survey were:

   •    83 per cent of firms rated the South West’s economic performance in the past 12 months as average or good
   •    81 per cent said they thought the UK’s overall economic performance in the past 12 months was average or good
   •    Confidence in the South West’s economic performance for the next 12 months was rated average or good by 67 per cent of respondents
   •    Confidence in the UK’s overall economic performance was rated average or good by 59 per cent of those polled.

   The findings are in line with the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC), which has downgraded its growth forecast for the UK economy, blaming “global headwinds and uncertainty”.

   The BCC now expects the UK’s economy to grow by 2.2% this year, down from a previous estimate of 2.5%. It has also cut its growth forecast for 2017 to 2.3% from 2.5%, and expects growth of 2.4% in 2018.

   Meanwhile, the consensus of independent forecasters is that growth in future years won’t be quite as strong as thought in the autumn. This would mean that the Chancellor will miss his target to close the national deficit by 2019.

   The survey had coverage in the Western Morning News and the follow up survey results indicated that confidence levels remained the same as pre Budget.

5. Devon’s FT2G shortlist announced!

   March 2, 2016 10:35 am Comments Off on Devon’s FT2G shortlist announced!

   Agri-tech specialists, a dairy farm and pop up caterers are amongst the firms that have made it to the final of Devon’s new Fast Track to Growth Programme, it was revealed.

   Fifteen companies across the county have been selected to progress on to the programme that will help them develop their plans for growth in 2016. One stands the chance of winning £15,000 worth of financial strategy, PR and marketing supporting for the rest of the year.

   Shortlisted are Bluebird Care, Custodian Solutions, eCow Devon, Holiday Toys, OneFlow and Pickle Shack from Exeter, Care Control Systems of Tavistock, Ottery Valley Dairy near Honiton, TIC Training of Brixham, Essential 6 of Torquay, If Everyone Cares of Dawlish, Dial South West of Newton Abbot, Yonder Berries, based in Lustleigh, Southern Filters of Axminster and Salcombe Gin Company.

   Each will now receive specialist support through a series of workshops to progress their plans, ahead of a final pitch in late April and a chance to win the top prize of a year’s worth of support.

   Fast Track to Growth has been developed by financial strategy experts SouthWestfd and PR, marketing and design agency Astley Media, in partnership with Exeter Innovation Centre and Innovate Exeter.

   Jerry Davison, SouthWestfd Chairman said: “An incredible mix of companies applied and we’ve got a strong shortlist of firms with bold growth plans to now focus on. I’m really looking forward to getting to know the people behind the brands, as we help each business progress through the Fast Track to Growth programme.”

   Fast Track to Growth is sponsored by Devon-based Crowdcube, the world’s leading investment crowdfunding platform and supported by Exeter Innovation Centre, Sampson Hall, Stephens Scown LLP, Santander Corporate and Commercial, Kingfisher Print and Design, SetSquared and Innovate Exeter. The programme helps companies work on specific growth plans and includes business planning, financial strategy, legal, marketing, PR and leadership expertise.

   All companies who applied to the programme were invited to a special welcome and networking event held at University of Exeter Innovation Centre last week. Those that did not make the shortlist have been offered opportunities including places at the West Country’s only Startup Weekend event, in Exeter in June, and free places on Business Modelling and High Growth workshops at Exeter Science Park.

   Luke Lang, Co-Founder and Chief Marketing Officer of Crowdcube, said: “It was great to meet some of the people behind the companies who have entered Fast Track to Growth. All are led by passionate people intent on learning, seeking support and growing their business. That’s incredibly encouraging and testament to the number of firms that are now looking at developing and growing their business in new ways, which has to be good news for the South West.”

   David Culshaw, senior associate, corporate team at Stephens Scown Corporate, said: “In our experience, the more that companies reach out for the right expertise to help them, the more it shows how passionate they are to succeed. Devon has a wonderful array of diverse businesses which is such a strength, but we need to do all we can to help companies fulfill their potential, which is what Fast Track to Growth is all about.”

6. Have you registered who has ‘significant control’ over your company?

   February 24, 2016 7:46 pm Comments Off on Have you registered who has ‘significant control’ over your company?

   With effect from January 2016, companies have been required to keep a register of people with “significant control” over the company, the “PSC register”, although that information will not need to be made available on the public register at Companies House until April 2016.

   A person with significant control over a company is defined as an individual or entity that meets one or more of the following conditions:

   • they hold, directly or indirectly, more than 25% of the shares in the company or more than 25% of the voting rights in the company
   • they hold the right, directly or indirectly, to appoint a majority of the board of directors of the company
   • they can exercise a significant influence or control over the company

   So for example in the case of a subsidiary company, the parent company would probably have to appear on the register.

   The PSC register will need to be available for inspection at the company’s registered office (unless the company opts to keep its PSC information on the public register at Companies House only) and the information on it will need to be confirmed to Companies House at least every 12 months.

   Regulations also set out a “protection regime” enabling individuals with significant control over a company who are at serious risk of violence or intimidation as a result of the company’s activities, to be able to have their personal information protected from disclosure in the PSC register.

    

   Provisions coming into force from 1 April 2016:

   Annual confirmation of accuracy of information at Companies House
   

   The requirement for companies to submit an annual return is being removed. In its place, companies will need to deliver a confirmation statement at least annually, stating that the company has delivered all the required information in the last 12 months.

   The company must confirm, as part of the confirmation statement, that relevant events have been notified and these include details of a change of registered office and details of certain company registers.

   Option to keep information on central registers

   Private companies will have the option of keeping certain information on the public register at Companies House instead of in separate private company registers. The relevant registers are:

   • the register of members (i.e. shareholders);
   • the register of directors;
   • the register of directors’ residential addresses;
   • the register of secretaries; and
   • the new PSC register.

   The company need not update its historic registers with subsequent changes but it must continue to keep the historic registers.

   Private companies will need to think carefully about whether or not they want to maintain any of the registers at Companies House. Some information that would not otherwise appear on the public register (for example, members’ addresses and full dates of birth of directors) will be available for inspection on the registers kept at Companies House and companies may decide that they would prefer to keep that information off the public record by continuing to maintain their own registers.

   We are happy to talk to you if you need more information on what to do.

7. Raising finance – faster, better, cheaper

   November 23, 2015 10:17 am Leave a Comment

   How? The answer is ‘Investment Readiness’. What is it?

   → It’s providing sufficient information, credibility and trust to investors to motivate them to invest in your proposition.

   Route to Success

   In order to successfully raise funding, whether equity, loans, grants or other forms of finance, a company must be in good shape and sufficiently attractive to the providers of funds. A company with higher investability, that makes the providers ‘feel right’ about advancing funding, will have a greater chance of getting finance and will secure it both quicker and cheaper. Essentially, getting a company investment ready is all about carefully preparing it and its people to present the right image and proposition to investors and bankers. Check out skrumble to find more interesting posts about finance grow.

   The need for Investment Readiness
   •    There is a fundamental knowledge gap in most SMEs such that they do not know the options for financing and which sources would be relevant to their strategy
   •    There is also much evidence that many SMEs do not seek funding because they are unsure about the process and resistant to giving up any equity due to anxiety about losing control of the business
   •    The low quality of applications for funds results in a high failure rate, particularly those for non-bank risk money. Many business plans may have inherent merit, but are either insufficiently developed or are inappropriately structured. This reflects badly on the entrepreneur’s ability

   Main problems with Business Plans

   •    Quality of team
   •    Vision/strategy unclear or not well articulated
   •    Too many facts, not enough analysis
   •    Lack of commercial reality
   •    Lack of credibility in financial projections
   •    No real customer need or benefit established / lack of USP – Too ‘ME TOO’
   •    Too complicated
   •    Insufficient growth potential
   •    Route to market unclear / vague on market drivers
   •    Insufficient evidence of demand
   •    Competition complacency and not properly identified
   •    Lack of contingency planning
   •    Assumptions are fuzzy
   •    Unclear on need and level of funding
   •    Exit not well defined

   Key stages in the Readiness process

   •    Identifying the most appropriate sources of money and discussion and analysis of the effect of any ownership dilution. The benefits and downsides of raising equity
   •    Reviewing the business to identify and correct shortfalls or omissions that would impact on an investment decision
   •    Guidance on investor expectations and attitudes
   •    Help with preparation of the business plan and of the live presentation
   •    A mock run through of the due diligence process to ensure all queries are covered, including legal, financial, management, marketing, competition
   •    Marketing of the proposition (if required)
   •    Mentoring through the funding and due diligence process
   •    Post-investment management guidance

8. Try our 15 point check list to get your business into shape for 2016

   October 20, 2015 12:23 pm Comments Off on Try our 15 point check list to get your business into shape for 2016

   Business confidence is now generally high and we have finally climbed out of the recession. Britain’s GDP is now a few per cent above where we were in 2008 before the crash, which cut over 6% from the UK’s output. However, there is still plenty of uncertainty out there (look at China for a start) and the last thing any business should do is get complacent. Here is our checklist for helping you to review your business to ensure it’s as strong as possible going into next year, especially from a cash flow perspective:

   1. Review your budgets and set realistic and achievable targets.
   2. Get rid of won’t pay customers.
   3. Review your debtors list and chase up overdue invoices.
   4. Make sure your terms of business contain explicit payment terms.
   5. Assign responsibility to one individual for invoicing and collections.
   6. If appropriate, review banking facilities and discuss future needs. If you are going to require additional funding ask for it at least 3 months before you need it!
   7. Put extra effort into making sure your relationships with your better customers are solid.
   8. Review and flow chart the main processes in your business (e.g. sales processing, order fulfilment, shipping etc) and challenge their efficiencies.
   9. Encourage team members to suggest ways to streamline and simplify processes (e.g. sit down and brainstorm about productivity, outsourcing and cost reduction by using tools pay stubs).
   10. Use ‘bottom up’ budgeting where everyone in the office gives input on areas over which they have control – target a 10% cost saving.
   11. Review your staffing needs over the next 12 months and deal with weak or unnecessary individuals.
   12. Get your members of staff involved in a discussion of likely trading conditions and get their input on reducing costs and maintaining revenues.
   13. Review your list of products and services and eliminate those that are unprofitable or not core products/services.
   14. Establish your key performance indicators (KPI’s) and measure them on a regular basis e.g.
       1. Sales Leads generated
       2. Orders supplied/fulfilled
       3. Cash balance
       4. Stock Turnover
       5. Debtor Days
       6. Gross Profit
       7. Net Profit
   15. Pull everyone together and explain the business strategy and get their buy-in.

9. Funding to support your growth

   12:21 pm Comments Off on Funding to support your growth

   If you are an SME with a successful business you may need support to drive the next stage of your growth. Running a thriving company can be a real challenge and is sometimes a lonely place to be. In an ideal world you’d have an experienced full-time finance professional (e.g. a Finance Director) on your team but, right now, the cost is probably prohibitive.

   SouthWestfd is a highly experienced group of finance professionals who have all been finance directors, managing directors and CEOs in a variety of industries. We have helped many companies across the region to set the foundations for successful expansion, putting the right building blocks into place, such as robust cash flow management.For an initial outlay of only £1,500 (+VAT) we can access government funding that would pay for £3,000 of our time (equivalent to 5-6 days support). We will work with you on a flexible basis to help improve your company’s financial performance and support your growth.We will assign one of our Finance Directors to get to know your business and to engage with you and your senior team to:

   • Help to identify ways of improving profitability
   • Help you keep on top of your cashflow
   • Support your management of growth and avoidance of growth pitfalls
   • Identify key improvements in the financial information you receive
   • Challenge you to improve your financial systems and processes
   • Assist you to draw out and resolve key financial issues
   • Support your financial forecasting and business strategy
   • Discuss your working capital needs and options for fund-raising
   • Assist you to build relationships and credibility with banks, investors and other funders such as grant providers
   • Prepare you for raising of finance, acquisitions and exits
   • Help with resolution of difficult and confidential issues
   • Act as a sounding board for you and your team
   • Help you to ensure that you fulfil your statutory duties to the company
   • Cover any issues that you wish to discuss and develop

   To qualify, your business must:

   • Be registered in the UK and based in England
   • Have fewer than 250 employees
   • Have turnover of less than £40m

   As a follow-on, we also have access to ‘Leadership and Management’ training grants, giving match funding of up to £2,000 per eligible senior manager. These grants could pay for, e.g., general or targeted financial management training, marketing and PR training, HR training and many other topics. Much of the training can be “embedded” within your normal activities to make it very practical and totally relevant to your needs.

   To register your interest and find out more, please call us on 01392 432654 or e-mail office@southwestfd.co.uk and we will talk you through the process.

10. Budgets: A business straightjacket?

    September 16, 2015 10:52 am Comments Off on Budgets: A business straightjacket?

    By Jerry Davison

    Budgets are a useful tool in monitoring progress against the achievement of a company’s overall strategy. However, when poorly utilised, they can restrict and stifle the abilities of both managers and staff: acting like a straightjacket, demoralising staff in the constant pursuit of numbers.

    To be valuable tools, financial budgets should gain buy-in rather than indifference. Staff must see how the budget relates to the overall strategy and their individual aims and objectives. It also requires financial forecasts to look at the short and long-term, if staff are to engage with the budget and find it useful in quickly and accurately understanding progress.

    Unlocking potential with rolling financial forecasts

    When developing financial forecasts, there’s an unhelpful tendency to focus on the 12-month block up to the year-end. This is often at odds with project timescales, seasonal sales differences and various other factors.

    Equally, for day-to-day management and operations, it’s important that staff have a clear and accurate picture of their current progress and financial flexibility. Fluid financial forecasts, that take account of monitored figures and adapt forecasted figures, provide more accurate and achievable figures – often tuneable to different timeframes.

    For rolling financial forecasts to be effective, an accurate and up-to-date monitoring process is needed. This not only needs to include regular (daily or weekly) sales data, but also qualitative information such as feedback from staff on how forecasts might be effected by internal or external factors.

    Making monitoring effective

    At the core of effective rolling financial forecasts is effective and accurate monitoring.

    Reporting templates should work in favour of the staff, capturing the necessary information whilst taking minimal time to complete. They should allow monthly, quarterly or even continual monitoring: and link back to the financial forecast projections for relative periodic adjustments.

    Effective reporting templates can be designed in parallel with training staff in their use. This approach ensures the templates benefit from everyone’s knowledge, and everyone has ownership of how their achievements are acknowledged. Whilst some businesses use proprietary or outsourced systems, effective templates can be produced in Microsoft Excel.

    Different parts of an organisation will have different reporting and access requirements. Designing different input sheets, tweaked to each element of business, will help streamline the process.

    The length of rolling financial forecasts varies. We’ve found that 15-month rolling forecasts are the most popular. At the end of each quarter or month, depending on how often the financial forecast is updated, a fresh 15-month forecast is produced – adjusted using the monitoring data.

    Strong companies use business intelligence to underpin decision making: speeding up and honing the accuracy of decisions across an organisation, helping increase profit margins by being more reactive and in the right direction. When designing templates and the overarching financial monitoring systems, you should ensure they can provide:

    1. Progress reports, tweaked to suit different levels of an organisation. These could simply be a spreadsheet, or template reports dynamically linked to the monitoring database. These may include some basic gap analysis, but this is often included separately within variance reports.
    2. Variance reports, highlighting where and how figures have differed from forecasts. These help identify areas of strong profit and weak performance. Where weak performance is due to internal rather than external factors, managers should use their diplomacy to support and not bully staff. With care, they are a useful tool. Without, they can set in the toxic ‘us and them’ attitude.
    3. Ability for relevant staff to identify and incorporate business drivers; create project plans and budgetary forecasts.
    4. Automation with technology wherever possible, for instance with stock management systems.

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