80% of private SME owners in Britain are owned by Baby- Boomers looking to sell in the next 5 years. I heard this frightening tid-bit at a networking event two weeks ago. What makes it frightening is that up to now, private businesses based in London, were in a seller’s market. Everyone wants a strong foothold in Europe. But after Brexit, it will no doubt be a buyer’s market, decreasing the value of your business considerably.
In January 2017 Toyota, announced it was going to put £240M into the UK, building a plant in Burnaster, near Derby. This morning’s Financial Times and the Guardian stated Toyota is warning it may need to reconsider its Burnaster plant, if Brexit negotiations do not improve. I have also heard on the grapevine that two major banks who’s HQ’s are in London have teams in place planning to relocate their Head Quarters if Brexit negotiations are not favourable.
So… what does all this gloom and doom mean today’s for British SME’s? It means what makes your business tick along today, may not work for you in the future.
I wrote about this a few weeks ago, which you can read here. In short, reconsider how your business works.
- Spread your risk.
- Diversify.
- Speak to your clients.
- Look at where your clients are- do you need to expand your client base?
- What currency are your clients buying in, and where are you purchasing your products from? Are you reliant on the value of the pound? A lower pound raises the cost of imports and inflation.
- Are you solely based in the UK? Do you need an office in Luxembourg? Take a look at what insurer RSA did?
- Review your current employment contracts
You need to start planning. Have an away day. Get an expert in to help you, like a CFO. If you wait to see what happens, it will be too late. The time to plan is NOW.
WrightCFO Ltd is an award winning consultancy of outsourced part-time Finance Directors and CFO’s for SMEs. Contact me to find out how we can help your business.
sophie@wrightcfo.co.uk
07817 784 603
