WSP Solicitors has launched a new guide to selling a business.
SoGlos chats to Peter Mardon, head of company commercial at WSP Solicitors, to find out more about how the guide works and the insight it offers business leaders and the wider business community.
With more than 25 years of experience advising businesses from initial concept through to start-up, growth, consolidation and exit, he is also a director of a successful international manufacturing group, and perfectly placed to guide firms through the process of selling up.
Tell us about your new guide to selling your business?
If you are in business there is a good chance that one day you will want to sell your business and the guide explains the sale process in detail with some tips for things you should be doing now in preparation.
Although our guide does include some technical information which we think it is essential to have an understanding of, we also look at the human side.
Businesses are, in essence, groups of people who come together to collaborate and produce something worthwhile that someone is prepared to pay their hard-earned money for. With a good business, everyone wins.
Why did you decide to create the new guide?
Although there is a lot of information out there that explains specific elements of a business sale, we wanted to bring everything together in one place but also to be less technical and more practical.
We wanted to share the guide, not just with business owners thinking about selling their businesses, but also with accountants, business sale agents, bankers, financial advisers and other professionals as a tool for them to better understand the process to help them help their clients.
What benefits do you hope it will bring?
We want to demystify the sale process but at the same time warn sellers that a sale is a big, life-changing event that they need to prepare for.
Is 2024 looking to be a good time to be buying or selling a business and why?
The tax regime and economic environment for selling your business is pretty good at the moment but we expect adverse changes. Business taxes are likely to go up and taxes on people selling businesses are likely to go up, too.
But I am always optimistic about the future for business — at the end of the day, humans are creative, imaginative and adaptable, so any challenge can be overcome with the right attitude and good support.
Why is WSP the best place in Gloucestershire to get legal advice on business sales?
Firstly, as you expect and deserve, we have a lot of expertise and experience in buying and selling businesses.
But more than that we are passionate about business and the great contribution it makes to our local communities: creating wealth, creating jobs, providing goods and services to us and paying tax to fund the public services we rely upon.
For us at WSP, the success of Gloucestershire business means success for us too.
To download the new guide visit wspsolicitors.com.
