Success Stories
Support & Finance for Startup Property Developer.
The Enquiry
We received a call from a Quantity Surveyor who wanted to move into property development. In his words “He knew the building industry but precious little about setting up, funding and running a business.”
The Project
Following one of our usual, free, ‘get to know you’ 2-Hour business consultations it was agreed that we would support our client in setting up and funding his business. This involved the following activities:
- Developing a business plan with strategy, targets and financial forecasts.
It was agreed our client would start with ‘Property Refurbishment’ rather than going straight into ‘Full Build’.
- Identifying and acquiring a suitable property. This included us raising auction finance.
- As our client wanted to maintain his QS role to guarantee income in the short term, it was agreed that Phil would take on the Project Management role for this first project.
- The necessary trades people were identified and employed on a contract basis.
- The necessary work was carried out. It was completed on time and within budget and the property put up for sale
Conclusion
Our client is now looking at the next project, which may well be a larger property refurbishment job before making the move to full scale building.
This is just one example of how the iBOSS Interim Management Support service can help the small business manager/owner (in this case a startup). For more details or to request one of our free 2-Hour consultations simply call Phil on 07876 503830 or complete and submit the enquiry form. We look forward to hearing from you.
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Advising our client on buying a business
The Enquiry
iBOSS was approached, by a legal advisor contact of ours, to help his client who was considering purchasing a well-established retail business. This was a ‘retirement sale’ of a well-established company involved in selling curtains, carpets and other flooring materials. The client was seeking advice & support as he had no previous experience of buying or operating a retail business. We, of course, do!
The Project
After our usual Free Consultation meeting, we agreed to help him as follows:
- To take a close look at the business in question to determine:
a. Its on-going viability under new management.
b. Whether an acceptable price & terms could be negotiated. - Assuming the answers to these questions were positive – To produce a business plan for the acquisition and development of the business.
- Support and advise our client in the negotiation process, including future staffing arrangements. This we did so successfully that the finally agreed price and staged-payment terms meant that the client did not need to raise additional finance
- On completion of the purchase we maintained contact with the client giving advice where necessary.
The outcome
The end result was that terms were agreed with the owner and the various members of staff. The purchase was completed, and our client has taken over the business very successfully. He is delighted with the outcome and now can focus on implementing the changes he needs to achieve the growth plans we drew up with him. To this end, we have recently had a call from our client regarding advice on moving the whole business to a better location. To request one of our free 2-Hour consultations simply call Phil on 07876 503830 or complete and submit the enquiry form. We look forward to hearing from you.
iBoss & A Law Firm
Another example of our Interim Management Support in action!
The Enquiry
The team at iBoss have increasingly become involved in more major business structuring projects in parallel with their normal planning and advisory services. One very good example of this involved a Partner in a prominent Law Firm who was offered the opportunity to purchase the division that he ran, something he had wanted to do for some time.
Before taking the plunge, however, he wanted to know if it was feasible for him to proceed with structuring a buy-out. Following our normal 2-Hour Free Consultation our client decided to engage iBoss. This was mainly because he was seeking more than just plain business consultancy. He chose to use proposed our Interim Management Support Service.
The Project
The following are the main activities we were involved in:
- Two of our Directors spent considerable time at the location in the S. West. They talked both with the client and the current owners of the business. They also reviewed options for and potential costs of relocating the business to totally separate premises.
- Outline plans and costings were presented to the client.
- Based on these a review of finances was carried out. This included discussions with potential Lenders.
- Once the decision to proceed was reached, iBOSS was engaged to ‘make it happen’.
- This then became a major project under our IMS Service. We were totally involved in
– Planning,
– establishing Heads of Terms,
– Relocation of staff and office equipment
– and, possibly most difficult of all, arranging suitable Professional Indemnity insurance based on a projected t/o of £4mn. - We also arranged finance of £100K to provide initial working capital.
The outcome
All of the above was completed successfully. As a result, the negotiations to transfer the business were completed and the business was successfully relocated under new management. A classic example of our Interim Management Support Services in action thanks to the experience and hands-on approach of the team at iBoss. For more details of this project contact Phil Jones on 07876 503830, e-mail him at phil@theiboss.co.uk or submit the Enquiry Form and request one of our Free 2-Hour consultations.
Engaged To Review Offers On A Purchase Of Small Lifestyle Business
The Enquiry
We were approached by the owner of a small lifestyle business in Northamptonshire to reviewed offers received to acquire his business.
The Project
The principal features of this small project were that:
- The business was involved in office cleaning supplies. It was run by the owner alone.
- It had a stable number of loyal, long-term customers and the potential to expand.
- The owner was looking to retire and wished to sell his business without any unnecessary costs and complications.
- The deal size and value of the business did not merit the involvement of a business sales agent or corporate finance specialists primarily because of the costs and delays that would be involved to obtain further offers.
Outcome
We agreed a nominal fee to review the offers and outline the ‘pros and cons’ of each offer. The purpose was to enable the owner to decide which offer was most likely to be completed quickly and without any onerous conditions attached.
Having received our feedback, the owner accepted one of the offers and proceeded straight to instructing lawyers to complete the share sale. The owner successfully completed a 100% sale of the company’s shares within a couple of months.
Conclusion
Whilst the Team at iBOSS are perfectly capable of taking on complex projects, particularly under our Interim Management Support services, we are also perfectly willing and able to undertake short-term advisory services for smaller businesses as described above. For more details of this project or to discuss our services contact Peter Douglas on 07770 866955, e-mail him at peter@theiboss.co.uk or submit the Enquiry Form and request one of our Free 2-Hour consultations.
Helping A Children's Nursery To Grow
The Enquiry
We were approached by the owner of a children’s Nursery. She was looking for assistance in developing her business, which operates as a Ltd Company. The Nursery itself performs very well in regard to the educational and care aspects of the business. It had gained an ‘Outstanding’ rating from OFSTED. What the owner was looking for was help and guidance in terms of commercialisation and growth of the business.
The Project
The Nursery is located in a village taking children from the surrounding area. It also acts as a ‘feeder’ to a number of Primary Schools, Following our usual 2-Hour Free consultation, it was agreed that iBOSS (Director Phil Jones in particular) would take on the role of business advisors, based on a monthly retainer.
This arrangement has worked successfully with the following results:
- One area of concern involved the difficulties of raising the Nursery’s profile and associated fund raising. We advised on the setting up a ‘Friends of …’ Group. This has now been done with positive results.
- We have provided advice in other areas such as employment and dealing with external matters such as suppliers and legal matters etc.
The Outcome
As a result of our involvement, some of the operational strain has been taken off the owner, leaving her more time to concentrate on the educational/care aspects of the business. Plans are now being worked on for future development of the business and any additional fundraising activities needed to support that development.
For more details of this project contact Phil Jones on 07876 503830, e-mail him at phil@theiboss.co.uk or submit the Enquiry Form and request one of our Free 2-Hour consultations.
Preparing a Hi-Tech equipment manufacturer for sale
Yet another example of Interim Management Support in action!
The Enquiry
Our Director, John Landers, totally out of the blue, received a call from the Managing Director of a specialist Med-Tech manufacturer, who he had known for a number of years. He informed John that he and his wife would now like to explore the possibility of marketing the company for sale and could John & iBOSS help with this process.
The Project
- It was explained that whilst iBOSS would not take on a business sale mandate directly in this case, we could introduce a specialist corporate finance firm and that iBOSS could support the directors in preparing the company for sale.
- John and the representative from the corporate finance firm visited the directors in Wales to understand the business and the terms upon which the owners wished business to be marketed for sale. Whilst the consideration sought was important other factors were important such as the staff and remaining in the current location.
- What became clear at the meeting was that the owners had built up a very successful and profitable business over the 20 plus years, but the business needed to undertake much work to prepare itself for sale before a marketing process could commence.
- Therefore, it was proposed that the company would engage iBOSS to work with the Owners to prepare the business for sale. The Owners would then engage the corporate finance firm to market the business when the time was appropriate.
- There followed regular visits to the client. Eventually sufficient information was made available to the Corporate Finance firm for the Information Memorandum to be produced and the marketing to commence.
- Meanwhile a key member of the client’s management team left, and John took on the temporary role as General Manager until the sale was completed. This to be covered under the iBOSS Interim Management Support Service.
The Outcome
By January 2025 a Heads of Terms had been agreed for a majority sale of the shares with the directors retaining a minority stake, which worked for both parties. Lawyers were instructed and effectively IBOSS had accomplished the task they had been instructed to undertake, and the sale was successfully concluded some weeks later.
This was a very interesting assignment in that it demonstrated the benefits of interim management support for specific tasks, which in this case highlighted the benefits of preparing a business for sale before marketing it to achieve the outcomes being sought. It also demonstrated how we at iBOSS can introduce professional firms to genuine opportunities.
For more details of this project click on this link or contact John Landers on 07809 361664, e-mail him at john@theiboss.co.uk or submit the Enquiry Form and request one of our Free 2-Hour consultations. We look forward to hearing from you.