Whilst not fundamental to effective & practical advice, having a specialism in a particular sector provides an additional dimension to that advice. Over the years advice has been provided to an extensive range of clients in a variety of businesses in the private sector - services, retail, distribution, manufacturing and property related. This has now culminated in a focus on the specialisms listed.
Family Businesses
These cover a range of business types and sizes but are characterised by more than one generation being involved in the business and the fact that there are competing demands between being an employee, a shareholder and a manager. These competing demands are the catalyst for the phrase “shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations” and the fact that much of our advice is focussed on succession planning.
Law Firms and Professional Practices
Lawyers, architects, accountant and surveyors face the particular challenge of being regulated businesses with a strict code of professional ethics while needing to be managed for profit. Their business structures range from traditional unlimited partnerships through LLPs and onto limited Companies. LLPs tend to be more appropriate to traditional collegiate type practices due to their flexibility whereas Limited Companies tend to be appropriate to process driven firms such as bulk conveyancing and PI. Ownership issues including the use of EOTs are a particular focus of our work along with capital structures, profits sharing arrangements and the use of self invested pension arrangements for the purchase of premises.
Caravan and Holiday Parks
These are more often than not family owned and face the usual family issue of succession planning. They are usually highly profitable and as a result command premium valuations. They often face significant IHT issues due to the fact that site fees do not count as trading for Business Relief purposes.
Landed Estates and Agriculture
Succession is also a significant issue for these businesses which tend to be characterised by low profit and high values and frequently have been in the family for many generations. This makes funding succession plans difficult which often needs significant compromise.
Construction
A fascinating, cyclical and relatively high risk sector. Particular challenges are work winning and on the financial side the determination of profit on long term contracts and the value of work in progress.
