Passport And Visa Service Business For Sale

Business description

Established over ten years ago following the current owner’s successful career in the travel industry – selling all kinds of travel from individual flights and family package holidays right through to group travel bookings - this business has grown to become a leading provider of passport and visa services.

Operating from very well suited retail premises for the past seven years - in a location that attracts a good level of walk-in traffic from private individuals including students, UK and foreign nationals living either temporarily or permanently in the area, businessmen and professionals – together with a high volume of telephone orders from customers from all over the UK, this business specialises in emergency situations when the urgent turnaround of a passport or visa is an absolute requirement.

This business can guarantee that a customer will have everything necesasary to make that all important trip – business or leisure. It offers express 24 and 48 hour services – whether it’s a first time passport for an adult or a child, a passport renewal or the replacement of a lost or damaged passport in the UK. A similarly impressive service is available for the supply of Visas – all major Visa forms are available to download from its well used website – for most of the major travel destinations throughout the world. The business also offers a premium rate telephone line which offers advice and guidance on securing a passport or Visa.

The cornerstone to the success of this business is that it knows what the rules are – what an applicant can or can’t get away with, what forms are required, the supporting documentation that will be needed and where the documents need to go, saving customers a huge amount of time, hassle and red tape involved in dealing directly with the relevant government department, embassy or consulate. This bsusiness also has the infratructure in place to swiftly deliver paperwork – often working to pre-booked appointments with passport offices and the visa departments of embassies and consulates – and therefore far earlier than customers could themselves. Put simply this business is a professional ‘queuer’.

This is a very well established business which is tried and trusted by its customers to deliver. With turnover of approximately £70,000 per annum generating gross profits of almost £40,000 and profits available to the Owner of the business of £20,000 – supplemented by a further £15,000 from its premium service telephone line, this is an ideal acquisition opportunity for an existing business operating in the travel sector or an individual with a travel interest looking to run their own business.


Key strengths:

This business is operating in an enduring marketplace – a marketplace that continues to grow in line with the increase in people travelling abroad. Passports expire, are lost or damaged on a regular basis and are an on-going requirememt not only for travel but increasingly as proof of identity particularly in the current heightened climate of security concerns – even to the extent that photographic identity is required for domestic flights. The discrepancy between the duration of adult passports and childrens passports – 10 and 5 years respectively particularly catches people out.

One of the few passport and visa service providers promoted on a national basis, this business enjoys consistent business activity throughout the year. The summer is busy with passport applications whereas the winter tends to revolve mainly around overseas visas. It is ideally located in low cost premises in a multicultural area which generates good volumes of walk-in traffic from overseas passport holders requiring visas or non european passport holders looking to visit other EU countries and which also includes a large student population, businessmen and professionals such as lecturers and professors from the large local college and university community.

Paid in advance, the business enjoys excellent cashflows and suffers no bad debt. Approximately 80% of payments are via debit or credit cards – with the business separating out the application costs payable to the authorities from its own fees for transparency and ease of accounting.

Above all this business is trusted not only with one of the most important personal documents its customers have – and to deliver what isn’t always possible by an individual in what could be considered impossible circumstances. It knows its way around the system, knows the rules, the forms and proof of identity required and has the infrastructure in place to deliver the paperwork in the places needed, to acheve customer requirements. High levels of customer service ensure that customers can find out the status of their application throughout the entire process.


Key opportunities:

There is an outstanding opportunity to build on the existing services and customer base of this business. With a strong demand for its services combined with a capacity to increase turnover, a new owner contributing fresh ideas, enthusiasm, motivation and investment in marketing and advertising will have every advantage of building on an excellent platform.

There is an excellent opportunity to leverage the excellent reputation this business has built up for customer service and delivery by increased marketing of its services to travel agents, corporates and universities. The use of search engine optimisation techniques would also enable this business to reach a wider target audience through its website – as would the securing of links with travel websites.

There is also the possibility of extending the business’s presence in the marketplace by opening additional outlets particularly in areas where access to the passport office, consulates and embassies in central London is either time consuming or expensive.

Financial information:
The business is offered for sale as a going concern. All financial discussions will take place directly between the vendor and the interested parties under the auspices of Turner Butler.
Turnover for the financial year ending March 2008 was slightly less than £80,000 generating gross profits of almost £40,000 and profits available to the owners of the business of approximately £21,000.
The premium phone lines generate an additional turnover of £43,000 per annum with a profit of almost £16,000.
The Asking price of £115,000 is for a sale of the shares in the business.

Property information

Property:

Leasehold

Lease terms:

Rent is £1,000 per quarter with Rates of £500 per year

Location:

The business operates from ideally located retail premises in a popular, lively, bohemian area of the city in which this business is based. The ground floor outlet is approximately 750 square feet in all. Rent is £1,000 per quarter with Rates of £500 per year – the business benefits from 50% Small Business Rate Relief.

The premises are leased with the business in the second five year term of its agreement.

Business Operation

Competition / Market:

This business is located in a prominent location in one of this cities busiest commercial and retail areas. Close to the local university the business enjoys high levels of footfall – representing approximately 40% of total turnover. The business has undertaken mailshots to local travel agents and tour operators in the past. The business has a very well designed and informative website with a wide range of visa application forms available as downloads – with traffic previously generated by pay per click advertising. The business also has an informative single colour brochure outlining its services and the fees payable. The business appears in major telephone directories throughout the UK and with a national geographic telephone number is frequently the suggested company to contact by Directory Enquiries. By far its most effective form of marketing however is the strong word of mouth recommendation and repeat custom the business enjoys, testimony to the high levels of customer service and satisfaction the business engenders.

Reasons for selling:

The current owner wishes to emigrate.

Employees:

The Owner runs the business on a day-to-day basis supported by an excellent portfolio of reliable contract couriers who travel in to central London to present documents at the passport office, consulates and embassies.

Other information

Support & training:

The current owner will provide full business familiarization, training and handover to ensure a smooth transfer of the business to new Owners.