So often when we speak with shareholders in owner-managed businesses, it becomes increasingly clear that so much of the ongoing success of their business lies with them. While this delivers strong profitability in the short term, it can raise questions for potential new owners in the event of the sale of the business.
- How much day-to-day involvement in operations does the owner have and who will pick this up when they leave?
- Does anyone else in the business have oversight of the financial performance?
- Are important customer and supplier relationships held by the owner?
- Are key employees close the owner and would they be concerned in the event of change of ownership?
The UHY Hacker Young corporate finance team knows the importance of working to not only provide a market-leading service during a sales process, but working with an owner to prepare a business for a sale, as this is a key value driver and can increase the range of potential buyers that may be interested.
We are increasingly working with clients up to two to three years before a sales process begins to ‘prepare’ businesses for sale which may include:
- Ensuring financial reporting takes place regularly and accurately and that KPIs and other non-financial measures are regularly reviewed
- Ensuring that owners have in place a clear structure for a management team to take over the day-to-day operations of the business, thus reducing reliance on the owner
- Transitioning relationships with key customers and suppliers over to management
- Discussing future career plans with potential future leaders of the business to ensure that the right employees are incentivised on the future of the business
If you own a business and even if a future exit isn’t yet on the horizon, we can assist you to maximise value by ensuring your business is well prepared for an eventual sale.
The next step
For further information, please contact Fraser Pirie on f.pirie@uhy-manchester.com, or Peter Williams on p.williams@uhy-manchester.com.
