Selling your business /
Succession & Exit Planning
- ‘One Stop Shop’ to Business Sales/Exit or Family Transfer
- Maximising Business Value
- Competent leaders will be developed
- Personal and Family wealth will be protected and enhanced
- Shareholders interests will be protected
- The business will be prepared for the next generation of leaders
- Overview
- Services
- Experience
The Challenge…
It’s a matter of corporate life or death!
What will happen to your business when you leave?
Admit it. You haven’t given that question much thought. As a result you don’t have a succession/exit plan in place. Without one, you, your family, your joint shareholders, their families and the company is at risk.
You’re not alone. Many companies without a succession/exit plan do not survive to the next generation [100,000 businesses every year in the UK do not survive due to lack of succession planning – Source dti 2004].
Reasons why owners do not plan:
- Family rivalry – lack of communication
- Owners can’t let go!
- Fear that good advice and succession/exit support is too expensive
- Misunderstanding over the tax & financial aspects of succession/exit planning
- Fear that discussion over succession will scare off key employees
- Fear that customers may lose confidence
Owners of Family Business – Questions you need to ask.
- If the business is to stay in the family, are the chose children competent and truly committed to the success of the company?
- Is there a need for an external mentor to support future leaders during the transfer process?
- Have you made sufficient provision for your retirement income?
- If you sell shares to your children or family members, how will the finance the deal and is it sufficient for your financial needs?
- If you gift shares to children, what are the tax implications and how will the other ‘non business active’ children react? It is important to protect the business from future legal disputes
- What will your future role be in the business?
- Will your exit be partial or complete and over what time scale?
- What is the most tax efficient method of business exit?
Owners of a Non Family Business – Questions you need to ask
- Would the business survive without you?
- In the event of the sudden death of one of your business partners what happens to their shares?
- If you have shareholders of different ages, have you agreed how roles and shares will be transferred in the future?
- If you sell your shares how will the deal be financed and is it sufficient for your financial needs?
- Have you made sufficient provision for your retirement income?
- Is there provision to protect your family?
- Will your exit be partial or complete and over what time scale?
- What will your future role be in the business?
- Is there a need for an external mentor to support future leaders during the transfer process?
- What is the most tax-efficient method of business exit?
TRANSFER® delivers a range of creative exit strategies to meet the aspirations of business owners. These include:
- Management Buy-out
- Management Buy-in
- Employee Buy-out
- Trade Sale
- Joint Ventures
- Franchising or Licencing etc.,
A key reason for lack of action is that business owners are so involved in the day-to-day issues of running their companies. The process of planning for succession and passing control onto others often stays on the back burner…until it’s too late!
Here at William Battle Limited we have designed TRANSFER® to deal specifically with these issues. Through a comprehensive programme aimed at both business owners and future leaders TRANSFER® works with companies to tackle the issues head on and implement a practical succession plan that will deliver a smooth transition from one generation of leadership to the next.
Whether your goal is to transfer shares to family members, fund your retirement or sell the business to start a new venture, the TRANSFER® plan will help deliver the results you need.
Benefits of a TRANSFER® Plan for you and your business
- Maximising personal wealth of shareholders by increasing business value and organising the transfer in a tax efficient manner
- Resolves issues regarding future shareholding and ownership
- Develops a competent management team through training and mentoring well in advance of the actual transfer
- Plans for the impact on families, employees, customers and the surrounding economy
The TRANSFER® approach
‘It does what it says on the tin’
It transfers businesses, roles, responsibilities and wealth. This requires a single team approach of experienced professionals that can build consensus, avoid conflict and create a positive and enthusiastic platform for business growth.
It provides the answers to the questions:
- Why plan now?
- How do I maximise business value?
- How will it affect my other shareholders, their families and the current management?
- What do I need to do to achieve a smooth transfer?
The elements of the TRANSFER® plan:
- Diversification of financial assets
- Secure retirement income
- Incentives for children to remain active in the business
- Incentives for managers to maintain commitment
- Tax efficient transfer of shares and assets
The TRANSFER® process:
In broad terms, TRANSFER® business succession planning involves the following key steps:
- Self assessment of the business in readiness for succession
- Prioritising your personal and business aspirations
- Assessing the viability of family succession
- Developing strategy on the future direction of the business
- Building consensus amongst shareholders on future roles
- Training key people to be the company’s future leaders
- Estate planning considerations for business owners
- Succession plan development and implementation
Each of these steps are as important as the next and will ensure you successfully transfer business control on to others so that the business will continue to prosper and grow.
Business Valuation
How much is your business worth?
Developing an effective TRANSFER® plan requires an appreciation of the current and potential value of the business.
Many factors affect business value but they are all dependent on the following:
- Accurate externally generated accounts
- Quality of internal business controls
- Professionalism and confidence of key staff
- Breadth of customer base
- Profit history
- Productivity
- Branding, Product/Service differentiators
The TRANSFER® approach will address all of these and more. It will also link the action plans for increasing business value to the need for developing key staff and will help to organise the affairs to avoid conflict and maximise personal wealth.
It’s time to reap the benefits from the development of a TRANSFER® Succession/Exit Plan for your business. The benefits are:
- The business will continue to survive and thrive
- Competent leaders will be developed
- Personal and family wealth will be protected and enhanced
- The interest of shareholders will be protected – avoiding family friction
- The sale of the business will be maximised
- The business is prepared for the next generation of leaders
During the 20 years William Battle Ltd has actively worked with small, medium and large sized companies implementing practical solutions to business growth and succession.
Using its unique succession planning programme TRANSFER®, William Battle Ltd has successfully helped business owners secure their business, their wealth and their family relationships by identifying and training the next generation of leaders.
Our Consultants all have the ‘grey hairs’ of experience of what works and what doesn’t. Our expertise in delivering succession/exit and family succession in Small to Medium sized business is unrivalled.
The TRANSFER® ‘one stop shop’ approach is key since we collect all the facts, develop and deploy the Succession/Exit strategy and ensure that there is ‘joined up’ top notch legal, Tax and Financial frameworks that will ensure the ongoing success of the business and maximise personal wealth.
Our clients trust us because we deliver what we promise.
We offer confidential references from Managing Directors and Business owners who have been through the process and reaped the benefits.
It has taken years for us to find ‘top notch’ legal, tax and financial professionals who do not cost a fortune because they have the TRANSFER® route map to follow.
The result is £100k’s or £m on the value of business and personal wealth.
…but it’s not all about money because the process also provides a smooth transition for family business and protects the livelihoods of the entire workforce.
William Battle Limited have launched an Accredited Training and Applied Learning unit for Leadership and Management at level 4.
“We used the TRANSFER® programme for our thriving family business to ensure the transfer of ownership to protect the future of the business, provide an income in retirement for our parents and create a platform for growing the business to secure its future."
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