Insolvency Advice

Does this situation sound familiar to you?

You have spent many years and a lot of cash starting and building up your business and just as you had become established, started to get a good reputation and an established customer base the recession hits. Either your turnover drops, your costs increase, a customer goes bust on you owing you money and/or your bank and the Inland Revenue (HMRC) no longer help and you are in serious danger of losing everything you have worked so hard for.

Ask yourself this question.

“If your business could get rid of all it’s debts but keep it’s assets, customers, website, telephone numbers, email addresses etc would you have a good profitable business going forward?”

If you answer YES then we may be able to help you achieve this and the great thing is that it is all perfectly legal and above board (providing it is done in the correct manner and timescales). In fact you may be acting illegally if you don’t do this and carry on trading insolvently.

You must act now and keep control before one of your creditors acts and they take control.

Is your business:-

• Behind with VAT, PAYE or Corporation Tax Payments?
• Constantly at or over it’s overdraft limit?
• Struggling to pay it’s suppliers?
• In a position where the liabilities are more than the assets?
• Suffering from cash flow problems?

If you have answered yes to any of the above then please don’t suffer any longer. We can help you. There are many options available to a business that is struggling financially. We are experts in this area and can discuss what options are available to you and what each one means to you and your business.

Should I speak to an Insolvency Practitioner?

No, certainly not. Insolvency Practitioners are regulated and must, BY LAW, act in the best interests of your creditors so please DO NOT instruct an Insolvency Practitioner to act on your behalf because although you will pay their fees they will be acting in the best interests of your creditors at all times and not in your best interests. We are not Insolvency Practitioners and are not regulated. Therefore, we only ever act in YOUR best interests at all times. We have a panel of “friendly” Insolvency Practitioners that we work with on a regular basis and that we know very well. If you need an insolvency practitioner at any time (and you don’t always need one depending upon the route you decide to go down) we will bring them in to do the necessary work that only they can do but only when the time is right to ensure that you come out of all this in the best possible way.

Should I speak to my accountant or bank for help?

No No No No No.

Most Banks are no help whatsoever to businesses that are struggling financially and if you alert them to the fact that you think you may need help most of them will immediately withdraw any lending facility that you have in order to protect themselves. This will leave you in an even worse position. There are a couple of sayings about banks that we believe are very true

“A bank will give you an umbrella and then take it off you when it starts raining”

“Banks only want to lend money to businesses that don’t need to borrow it”

Most accountants only want to do your books once a year and this is what they specialise in.Since you have been in business how many times has your accountant contacted you throughout the year asking how things are going and if you need any help with anything? Probably not many times, if at all. Most accountants we come into contact with are bookkeepers and that is all they are good at. In fact we get many referrals from accountants because they know we are experts in what we do and specialise in helping businesses that are in financial difficulty.

Please contact us for a free initial chat where we can discuss your requirements and see if we can assist you.

Back to Top

 

---

 

Debt restructuring/renegotiation

There are some cases when either we cannot legally get rid of a business debt or it is not in the best interests of the business or directors to do this. However, the business or individual cannot afford the repayments so still need help.

This is where our debt restructuring or renegotiation service is invaluable.

We can deal with any type of debt including:-

• Banks
• Suppliers
• HMRC (Inland Revenue, VAT, PAYE etc)
• Personal Guarantees on business debts
• Finance Companies

We can discuss and explain various different options including:-

• Full and Final settlements (90% write offs have been achieved in the past)
• Payment holidays (buy you a bit of time and breathing space whilst you get back on track)
• Long term, low payment settlements

Please contact us for a free initial chat where we can discuss your requirements and see if we can assist you.

Back to Top

 

---

 

Invoice Finance/Factoring

One of the biggest problems that businesses suffer from is Cashflow. This is where you have done work, raised an invoice and are waiting for the money to come in, but you have money to pay out now. It can cause many businesses serious headaches and in some cases even end up with the business ceasing to trade. In the best situation most businesses have to wait 30 days to get paid on an invoice but in some cases this can be 60, 90 or even 120 days. With an invoice finance or factoring facility in place you can get paid up to 90% of the value of an invoice within 2 days of raising the invoice. Imagine that – raise an invoice for £10,000 and within 2 days you get £9,000 straight into your bank account with the balance paid to you when the customer pays. We can also raise the same percentage against your existing debtor book. So for example if you have invoices you have raised of say £100,000 and are waiting to get paid on them we can immediately get up to £90,000 paid into your bank account.

Many years ago the charges for this type of finance were very high but these days there are many companies offering this type of finance and the charges are now quite often less than having an overdraft or bank loan. So, if you have an overdraft, bank loan or existing invoice finance facility it will be worthwhile speaking to us to see if we can reduce the charges you are currently paying. 

Ask yourself these questions:-

1. Do you have outstanding invoices you have raised that you are waiting to be paid on?
2. Do you have an overdraft or bank loan?
3. Do you have an existing invoice/factoring facility?

If the answer is yes to any of these question please contact us and we can explain how we can help you and your business.

Back to Top

 

---

 

Asset Finance, Asset Re-finance, Sale and leaseback

If you are looking to purchase some new machinery, vehicles, IT equipment or any other type of fixed asset we can scour our contact of finance providers to find the deal and type of finance that best suits your company’s situation and will provide the most tax efficient way of purchase or rental.

Or, if you have some machinery, vehicles etc that you own outright with no finance we can raise some cash funds for your business by refinancing them to give your business a cash injection to be used as you please.

Please give us a call for a free no obligation chat about how we may be able to help you

Back to Top

 

---

Sales team formation or expansion

Many companies have a great product or service but do not have the experience or know how of how to generate sales and orders. Or you may have a small sales team but would like to expand this but do not have the time to plan and implement the expansion.

Alternatively you may have a sales team that needs managing but you do not have the time to do this yourself and don’t need a full time sales manager.

We have many many years experience of starting sales teams from scratch and expanding and managing existing sales teams to generate high volume, high margin sales in many different industry sectors using a wide variety of sales techniques including:

• Telesales
• Field sales
• Direct sales
• Internet Marketing
• Direct Marketing
• Fax/email marketing

Please contact us for a free initial chat when we can discuss where we can help you generate sales and increase profits.

Back to Top

 

---

 

Senior Management and Director mentoring

Even the most senior people need somebody else to use as a “sounding board” or for a “second opinion” on something. Sometimes it is better for somebody outside of the business to do this with a “fresh pair of eyes”.

We have many senior business people that you can use as a mentor for one of your Managers, Directors or even you the business owner or Chief Executive.

Please contact us for a free initial chat where we can discuss your requirements and see if we can assist you.

Back to Top

 

---

 

Non-Executive Director Appointments

We have worked with many Non Executive Directors that have been put in place by either investors, shareholders, banks or the board of directors themselves. The vast majority of these have been a complete waste of time and merely turned up to the monthly board meeting and sent in their invoice for fees and expenses.

A great Non-Exec will bring value to your business by helping to increase turnover, reduce costs and ultimately increase profits and business value by utilising their own experience and network of contacts.

We will find you a Non-Exec that will really add value to your business not end up costing your business.

Please contact us for a free initial chat where we can discuss your requirements and see if we can assist you.

Back to Top

 

---

 

Business Sale Planning and Advice

Once again this area of expertise is gained from personal experience. We have bought and sold many businesses and know what a purchaser, whether that be a private individual, competitor looking to grow by acquisition, management buy out, investor or venture capitalist is looking for when buying a business. Selling your business is not easy and the price you obtain for your business and how it is paid to you can vary dramatically if you do not position yourself correctly and do not know how to best negotiate the terms of the sale of your business.

Most business people only sell a business once so if you have never sold a business before but are thinking of doing so then please contact us for a free initial chat and how we can help you maximise your asset.

Please contact us for a free initial chat where we can discuss your requirements and see if we can assist you.

Back to Top