Asking price: £245,000

Sales revenue: £245,000

Net profit: £43,000

Fixtures value: Undisclosed

Stock value: Undisclosed

Business description
This business for sale was established to take advantage of the growing demand for short term office accommodation in its area. The offices of this business particularly appeals to the SME sector, large proportions of which are start up businesses and reluctant to commit to, or unable to secure long term leasehold accommodation. Situated in a busy South London suburb close to the local train station with easy access to London and the City via London Bridge, this business offers carefully planned office accommodation specifically designed to meet these requirements.

This business, run by just a Manager has 48 secure units of differing sizes available – 34 on the Ground Floor and 14 on the First Floor – all of which are light and well equipped. Moving in is simple – there are no legal fees, no long term leases and above all, no hidden running costs with electricity, heating all included. All that’s required is a signed agreement and one month’s rent in advance. Businesses operating from this Centre have all of the advantages of having their own fully equipped office without the associated worries. Reception is staffed from 8.00am to 5.30pm Monday to Friday. A Boardroom is also available for hire. The business also offers a mailbox service, sorting post either for collection by mailbox customers or alternatively forwarding it to an agreed destination on a monthly basis.

With very good occupancy rates already achieved – there’s rarely more than a handful of offices available at any one time - but still capacity to perform even better this is an excellent opportunity to acquire a well-established business with excellent growth potential. Over the last three years this business has consistently achieved a turnover of £235,000 to £245,000 per annum generating pre-tax net operating profits averaging in excess of £40,000 over the same period.

Key Strengths:
There are more self-employed people than those currently employed in the UK – a trend that is likely to continue as the UK economy develops further. This business is ideally located to tap into this growing market.
This is a very well established business with high levels of awareness amongst its largely local target audience. The area in which this facility is located is a very busy commercial centre with a large volume of SOHO’s and SME’s operating. In an excellent location within just a few minutes walk of major public transport, this business is ideally located for those with Clients and customers in London, with easy and swift access to the City - London Bridge is approximately fifteen minutes away.
This business has performed consistently well throughout its many years of operation. The difference between the levels of turnover over the last few years is less than £10,000 (£241,000 in 2003, £236,000 in 2004, £246,000 in 2005), despite the fact that on average the business loses approximately 20% of its Clients each year as they grow and move into more permanent accommodation. With no particularly large Clients and no large spaces to fill, there is always a continuous stream of Clients with new or small businesses looking to move in.
Key Opportunities:
With a strong demand for existing services there is the capacity to increase turnover and profitability. A new owner would contribute fresh ideas and energy to expand on this excellent foundation.
With the charging structure not having been reviewed for a number of years, there are many excellent avenues for growth especially by introducing services that would turn this business from a simple provider of office accommodation to a full serviced office accommodation business offering a wide range of paid for office facilities including message taking and forwarding, dictation, incoming and outgoing fax handling and the collecting and forwarding of mail.
With a small increase in advertising the business could easily expand its catchment area and potentially capture more passing trade to utilise the Boardroom for example. In addition there is the possibility of marketing the facility to local businesses which whilst they may have a base within the area may need an ‘overflow’ facility or alternatively may occasionally need a location for a private ‘off-site’ meeting.

Employees: The Owners of the business are very divorced from the day-to-day running of the business relying on a Manager to run the operation from Monday to Friday. The only other employee is a cleaner.

Location
This business is located amidst a very busy commercial centre in South East London. Ideally located within easy reach of a train station the business offers a facility that is within fifteen minutes travelling of London Bridge and the City of London.
The premises are leasehold with twenty eight years remaining on the lease though there is an opt-out clause in 2025. The rent is £72,000 per annum (due for review in March 2008) with Rates of £35,000 and Water Rates of £6,000 per annum.

Competition / Market
The business has used limited advertising in the past and there are excellent opportunities to increase this and market the business more aggressively. In the past marketing has been limited to the local press, however a high proportion of the business's revenue is due to its prominent location maintaining high levels of awareness but above all strong word of mouth recommendation, bearing testimony to the excellent reputation this business has established throughout the area. The company does not have a web presence and there is no doubt that turnover and profits could increase using this additional medium.

Support & training
Having Owned the business since 2000, the current Owners wish to pass the business on to new Owners to build on the excellent foundations already laid and in so doing concentrate on other business interests.

Reasons for selling
The owners will provide full business familiarisation, training and handover