Our Successes

Our corporate finance team have assisted several clients looking to buy and sell businesses. We successfully negotiated and advised on the Management-buy-in of an established firm of solicitors.  In the process we prepared a comprehensive business plan together with forecasts to assist with the inception of the necessary funding from Bank of Scotland.  We also worked alongside the three teams of legal advisers to ensure the transaction happened before CGT rates increased on 5 April.

We recently advised on the disposal of a garden centre. Given the complexities arising between negotiating parties, we provided advice in connection with a variety of tax issues including the consideration split in order to mitigate the client’s capital gains tax liability.

A client approached us seeking advice on the disposal of their estate agency business. The main assets Included within the business were goodwill and property. We liaised with the legal advisers to assist in the coordination of the transaction, and provided advice on the tax implications to reduce any impending liability.

Our corporate finance team have assisted several clients looking to buy and sell businesses. We successfully negotiated and advised on the sale of a long-standing family company, operating a parcel delivery franchise, to the publicly owned franchisor.

Careful planning ensured that the client’s tax bill was minimised, and we recommended and liaised with suitable lawyers.

We’re now working on Inheritance Tax advice: unlike a shareholding pure cash isn’t eligible for any relief! We’ve also recommended advice from Hart Shaw Wealth Management. The sale of your business is a life-changing event: careful investment decisions need to be made in order that you can protect your hard won capital and take an appropriate income.

We also assisted in negotiations for a management buyout in excess of £1m together with the preparation of a funding proposal. We arranged this as an own-share buyback and saved both the company and the recipient considerable tax.

Following the sad death of a client, we assisted in the sale of shares for £300,000 to the other shareholders, in circumstances which would have become acrimonious.

Our tax team acted for a financial services client in an exhaustive enquiry by HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) on the issue of Employment v Self Employment of agents. Following our representations it was concluded that the agents are correctly treated as self employed.

We represented our clients in a tax enquiry by HMRC who contended that a 100% business use of vehicles in veterinary practice was incorrect. Following representations HMRC agreed 100% business use.

We assisted a client to raise finance of £660,000 for the purchase of a commercial property.

We assisted a client to establish with HMRC that the purchase of two commercial units could be made under the transfer of a Going Concern rules for VAT giving a substantial cash flow advantage.

We have obtained research and development tax credits totalling £275,000 for two clients. These claims are often challenged by HMRC and our assistance with proving the claims can be invaluable.

Many companies are not claiming the research and development credits that are due and we therefore continually review this area for clients in order to obtain the maximum tax relief available for their business. The tax credits can be used to either reduce tax due, obtain cash refunds or increase losses to be offset against future profits.

We recently prepared a due diligence report for a client who was preparing to acquire a retail business. We concluded that the business was overvalued and as a result the deal was renegotiated at a 50% reduction in price. We recommended that the deal should be structured differently by purchasing the assets and goodwill rather than the shares which would result in a lower risk transaction.

We have recently assisted a client with the horizontal integration based acquisition of a specialist chemicals company.  We were instructed to carry out an extensive amount of due diligence and review of legal agreements, to ensure that the client would be protected in the event of breach of warranty.  The acquisition has assisted our client in diversifying into a new market whilst retaining its already influential market share.