Business Aspects Magazine had the pleasure of interviewing Paul Dodgshon, director of Uscita Solutions. For over a decade, he has been helping businesses throughout Europe to grow their businesses and get them fit for sale.
We discussed the issues and opportunities arising from business owners considering an exit from their family business.
What Kind of Businesses do you Work With?
“Typically, we work with businesses with between one to twelve million turnover and with 50 to 150 employees. Most of our customers are aged between 60 and 65 and the profile of people running that type of business is predominantly male”.
“Lots of the businesses we work with are family run. A lot of the time we find that there are people wanting the owner to slow down, whether it would be a wife, husband, family member or doctor. The owner may want to hand the business on to the next generation, but is really unclear how they can achieve that in a way that their children would want to be engaged in the business”.
What Issues May the Family-Run Business Owner Face When Thinking About Leaving?
“The key challenges for anybody owning a family business is that eventually they’re going to have to leave. They are unsure about how the process looks and who they’re going to pass it on to? Various options might be an outright sale, to pass it on to their kids, or it might be to sell it to their management”.
“The key issues for all of the people involved in the process are around the current owner. Has he built a business model that will actually survive him and does it work without him? This is what everybody will want to know”.
“If you start to get this right and start to build the business model that is sustainable without the current owner, then you give yourself the ultimate of choices”.
If you would like to discuss your options for exiting your business, please call Uscita Solutions on 01605 535020 or visit uscita.co.uk
Uscita Solutions have produced a guide which outlines 8 key drivers that can improve the value of your business. To download your copy of this guide, please click here
