Asking price: £740,000

Sales revenue: £500,000

Net profit: £120,000

Fixtures value: Undisclosed

Stock value: Undisclosed

Business description
Supplier of Workwear, Office and Safety Products – A Specialist Solutions Provider with a Particular Presence in the Transport and Emergency Services Sectors

Established approximately five years ago – and originally founded on the basis of supplying stationery products to the commercial sector, in just a short period of time this business has rapidly become a trusted name in offering a specialist range of products which straddle three multi billion pound market sectors – office products, safety and workwear Ideally situated with easy access to the M25 motorway, this business serves an amazing variety of businesses across the UK and Europe, both large and small, using the facilities and logistics platform of a recognised European importer.

Having built up excellent working relationships with its customer base of blue chip corporates primarily within the transport and emergency services sectors, this business has become a market leading solutions provider developing highly specialist goods. Working very closely with its Clients and as a result of developing an in depth understanding of their businesses and in particular the individual requirements of their staff, this business is very good at identifying ‘soft’ product sectors and adapting existing products to suit not only the customer’s needs but also their new product selection procedures. As a result this business has developed a range of products which have become the specified products in a number of business sectors.

This business has established a particular presence within the transport industry – having developed a range of specialist products adopted by the overwhelming majority of companies operating in the sector. Developed from detailed briefs this business compiled as a result of consultations with all the major stakeholders involved – including the management/budget holders, the users and the unions, these products meet all of the requirements defined to make them fit for purpose with specific features built in including those designed to meet stringent health and safety issues. As a result the business enjoys high volume orders from all major operators within the sector – able to offer highly specialist products at very competitive prices whilst still enjoying very good margins by creating economies of scale. The business has subsequently developed similarly strong relationships within the emergency services sector

With turnover for the financial year ending June 2009 in excess of £500,000 and gross margins of 47% generating adjusted net profits of approximately £120,000 – with a further £105,000 per annum available by dealing directly with the supplier base, this represents an excellent opportunity to acquire a provider of a specialist range of workwear, office and safety products. As such it should be particularly attractive to an existing operator in the sector looking to increase their market share or an individual purchaser looking to establish a foothold in a very lucrative and sustainable marketplace.

Key strengths:

This is a specialist business developing niche products – the best available - to meet specific customer requirements. As a result this business has become the dominant player in the marketplace, having grown by identifying weak products and focusing on developing product improvements through safety enhancement or ergonomic developments. With excellent high quality supplier relationships in place this business provides economically priced, improved products to meet the specifications that have been carefully identified, agreed and set by stakeholders through collaborative processes – often enjoying the recommendations of key safety/standards committees along the way – a highly efficient process matched only by the products’ durability. As a result this business has a strong loyal customer base generating on-going orders and predictable incomes moving forward. All products have been developed as a result of a high level of technical know how ensuring high barriers of entry to competitors.

In an industry where most businesses promote off the shelf products this company focuses on the specific requirements staff have of a product to fulfill their role, developing the best solution available. Focusing on safety related products – and having its product adopted as a ‘safety must have’ across the sectors in which it operates, this business is more recession proof than most.

Key opportunities:

There is an outstanding opportunity to build on the existing business levels and customer base of this company. With a strong demand for the products developed by this business, a new owner contributing fresh ideas, enthusiasm and motivation together with a little investment will have every advantage of building on an excellent platform.

A new owner of this business will enjoy excellent returns on investment simply by ‘farming’ the existing customer base and promoting the existing product range. The current owners firmly believe there is scope within the existing customer relationships and product range for this business to achieve turnover in excess of £1m per annum.

Many of the safety issues addressed in the range of specialist products developed by this business however are directly transferable to other sectors and to other countries throughout Europe and the rest of the world – potentially by using the strong relationships this business has developed with its customer base to access their parent companies – which have operating companies in markets in other countries throughout Europe. There is certainly scope to leverage the excellent reputation this business has developed and the high regard its existing customer base has for its business activities to move into other sectors and other product areas – the Ministry of Defence for example – even to the extent of developing an umbrella brand to encapsulate a range of sector specific products all based around the same common features.

Financial information:

The business is offered for sale as a going concern. All financial discussions will take place directly between the vendor and all interested parties under the auspices of Turner Butler.

Turnover for the financial year ending June 2009 was in excess of £500,000 generating gross margins of approximately 50% and adjusted profits available to the owners of the business of approximately £120,000.

The Asking Price of £740,000 is for a sale of the shares in the business to include the Balance Sheet valued at £160,000 and additional profits of approximately £105,000 per annum available by assuming the relationships with the key suppliers currently managed by the European importer with which this business works very closely.

Employees: The Managing Director a major shareholder in the business is responsible for the day-to-day running of the business supported by one other member of staff employed in a sales/administrative capacity. For sourcing, warehousing and order fulfilment the business taps into the facilities and resources of a recognised European importer which currently holds the ultimate supplier relationships – but are available within the sale of this business.

Relocatable: This business can be relocated.

Competition / Market
With products developed to specific requirements the vast majority of the marketing and advertising this business undertakes is limited to direct, personal approaches to highly targeted decision makers in organisations with similar requirements. The business has a very well designed website that performs very well in all major search engines for all appropriate search terms – supported by very effective educational e-communications, however, the most effective form of marketing the business enjoys is strong word of mouth recommendation and repeat custom, testimony to the efficacy of its product range in meeting specific, identified needs and the endorsements the product range has received by key stakeholders.

Support & training
The Owners will provide full business familiarisation, training and handover to ensure a smooth transfer to new Owners.

Reasons for selling
The current Owners believe the time is right to pass the business on to new owners to build on the excellent foundations already laid.