The nature of our business gives us very precise information on current business activity in the UK, amongst both SME’s and larger corporates. I have to say that our observations are often at variance with the so-called “official statistics.”
The trouble with statistics is that anybody can put any slant on them which suits their argument! I suppose that is why a cynic once said, “There are lies, damn lies and statistics – in that order!” BCMS Corporate is privileged to be in the front line when it comes to observing the amount of business activity in the UK, with hundreds of companies and business organizations feeding us real up-to-the-minute sales and production data, as well as forecasts of expected order levels.
Every month we speak with hundreds of MD’s who tell us what is happening in their market sector, how they are affected by the global economy and what they see happening in the future. Just as important, we speak to hundreds of potential acquirers to get their perspective on current and future buying intentions.
Here in the UK we have observed that over the last three months there has been a welcome resurgence of activity in the M&A market. For example, last month we located nearly 500 potential purchasers who expressed an interest in purchasing our client companies and who were willing to sign NDA’s to progress discussions. This compares favourably to the interest we achieved early in 2008, before the financial crisis took hold. As further proof of acquirers’ serious buying intentions, we recorded as many accepted offers in June 2009 as we did in June 2008.
Sometimes purchasers have difficulty in financing an acquisition, so we have set in place a panel of funding companies who may be able to assist a purchaser if he wishes to borrow £2 million - £20 million, or even more. For any owner who is contemplating selling his/her business, it may be appropriate to think of selling sooner than later.
First, as I mentioned, there are still plenty of interested buyers out there despite all the doom and gloom you read about in the Press, and second, it may be wise to take action before the proposed new taxes hit both high earners and all businesses in the next financial year.
Brian Rebbettes, Chairman
