Buying A Business – Advisory Services

Buying A Business – Advisory Services

We help optimise your business purchase. We can help you find sellers and finance (debt or equity). Areas in which we frequently assist include:

Pre-Negotiation Advice

  • Identifying your acquisition needs and finding targets.
  • Calculating the target value – it may differ from an “accounts-based” value.
  • Helping you clarify your thinking and identify synergies and strategic benefits.
  • Undertaking due diligence.

Negotiation Advice

We’ll help you negotiate the terms of purchase, from an expression of interest to the final contract, taking into account:

  • Warranties
  • Guarantees
  • Deferred payments
  • Deal structure in terms of:
    • Percentage ownerships
    • Timeframes
    • Financial risk
  • Financial risk transfer of
    • Debt
    • Your funds
    • Private Equity
    • Sellers funds – upfront and deferred payments.
    • Suppliers
  • HR issues
  • Operational risks

Financial and Funding Advice

  • Creating efficient funding structures to enable funds to be raised more easily.
  • Raising capital from debt, Private Equity or hybrid debt/equity instruments.
  • Optimising tax structures – for buyers and sellers.
  • Restructuring
  • Pensions

Post-Acquisition Advice

  • Staff retention
  • Systems integration
  • Creating management incentive plans – including Employers’ Management Incentive (EMI) schemes.
  • Increasing post-purchase the value of the acquisition.

Your Helping Hand

As well as providing technical/financial advice, we’ll guide you through your purchase and help you stay focused on your objectives.

Real World Expertise

 We understand business acquisitions. Rather than just advising on them, we’ve made many ourselves. Stuart Thomson, our MD:

  • Was previously a Private Equity principal.
  • Advised on the PFI of a hospital, the debt restructure of Croydon Tramlink and the National Air Traffic Control System (NATS) privatisation.

Johnsons – Chartered Accountants

  • We’re a growing, full-service, mid-sized firm of Chartered Accountants – and are small enough to care.
  • We’ve currently (December 2024) the resources and expertise to address your corporate finance requirements.

Advisory Team

Chartered Accountant Ealing Stuart Thomson

J Stuart Thomson MA ACA FCT ATT MCSI

Group Managing Director

  • Chartered Accountant (Institute of Chartered Accountants of Scotland)
  • Associate Chartered Accountant (Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales)
  • FCT – Fellow of the Association of Corporate Treasurers
  • MCSI – Member of the Chartered Institute of Securities and Investments
  • ATT – Association of Tax Technicians
> Stuart's full profile
Auditor London Edmund Cartwright FCCA

Edmund Cartwright FCCA

Managing Director / Audit Partner

  • Fellow of the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (FCCA).
  • Authorised by the Institute of Chartered Accountants of England and Wales (ICAEW) to conduct audits.
  • Authorised as a Responsible Individual by the UK Financial Reporting Council (FRC) to conduct Public Interest Entity (PIE) audits.
> Edmund's full profile
Tax Advisor London Karim Jivraj

Karim Jivraj BA (Econ)

Senior Client Manager

  • Karim has over 30 years of experience in the accountancy profession.
  • Primarily manages the accounting and tax requirements of our corporate clients, including public companies and international groups.
  • Advises clients on significant regulatory accounting changes and on financial, business, tax and VAT compliance.
> Karim's full profile

Rob Wilkes FCA

Audit Director

  • Rob has 34 years of audit experience.
  • Worked in the UK, Ireland and Australia and at four of the top five global accounting firms.
  • Advises and audits clients in the technology, professional services, leisure, hospitality, manufacturing, wholesale and NFP sectors.
  • Experienced in leading the delivery of audits for listed companies, large privately owned international companies and Private Equity owned businesses.
> Rob's full profile
Chartered Tax Advisor Peter Briant CTA

Peter Briant CTA

Tax Manager

  • Chartered Tax Advisor with 20 years experience.
  • HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Inspector of Taxes.
  • Has worked in tax strategy, tax investigations, large business, public sector, personal tax and corporation tax.
  • Represented HMRC in discussions with foreign fiscal tax authorities.
> Peter's full profile

Next Step

Contact us to learn how we can help reduce your business purchase risks – and negotiate a better deal. You’ll be pleased you did.