James Dow speaks with the Business Desk about the buoyancy of the deals market In a fireside chat at Invest North, James Dow, founder of Dow Schofield Watts and Stewart Haworth, director of debt finance at OakNorth Bank, spoke about the buoyancy of the deals market through the economic recovery and how they have been supporting … Continued
Women in accountancy: Interview with Jill Jones Jill Jones is the former North West Regional Managing Partner of RSM where she was also a main board director and acting COO until her departure in June 2020. She is now a Non-Executive Director at Dow Schofield Watts and a number of other organisations. Here she talks … Continued
Busting finance jargon with Roger Esler #5 Valuation bridges, debt, normalised working capital, earn-outs, VLNs, retained interests, conduct provisions and put/call options There’s business valuation and then there’s business valuation. To vendors, valuation often means the final cash consideration, or “equity value” that they actually receive for their share capital in what can be a … Continued
Busting finance jargon with Roger Esler #4 IBOs, MBOs, LBOs, SBOs, TBOs, MBIs and BIMBOs The decision for business owners to pursue a private equity (or financial buyer) exit route versus a trade sale process is a fundamental one. In Busting Jargon #3, the challenges and risks of mixing two processes together, when each can … Continued
Busting finance jargon with Roger Esler #3 Pre-emptives, limited auctions, wide auctions, twin track, triple track, sales agents, business brokers, spaghetti There are many ways to manage a business sale processes depending on the specific attributes and qualities of a particular business, the nature of its buyer audience and the objectives of its shareholders. It … Continued
Busting finance jargon with Roger Esler #2 Non-core disposals, carve outs, strategic divestures & corporate simplification Large corporate groups are evolving organisms that can go through fits and starts of acquisitions and disposals. The drivers for periodic bursts of such activity can be strategic, financial or both, but the catalysts can include a change in … Continued
Financial preparation to enhance or protect value in transactions Planning ahead is key to getting maximum value in corporate recapitalisations, refinancings and disposals. Well-presented, well-packaged opportunities are likely to generate the most interest and achieve best value. Poorly-presented opportunities run the risk of elongated timetables, price chips or failed processes. Our new paper looks at … Continued
How has the UK Deals Market been affected by the Covid-19 crisis? What is the current state of play, and what are the emerging deal themes as we come out of lockdown? The Dow Schofield Watts Corporate Finance and Transaction Services teams in Yorkshire & the North East give their views in this document. We … Continued
An interview with our new Non-Executive Director Heather Lauder Heather Lauder joined us as Non-Executive Director earlier this year and brings over 30 years of experience in retail and business banking to Dow Schofield Watts. Heather talks to Nicole Burstow, Finance Director about why she joined, first impressions and the future for Dow Schofield Watts. … Continued
Financial due diligence in a Covid-19 world Covid-19 has caused sudden and unexpected disruption for businesses. It will bring new challenges for transaction processes. As things stand, it is difficult to assess how and when sectors and businesses will recover and what the ‘new normal’ will look like. Given these uncertainties, we think robust … Continued
Due Diligence process tips: COVID-19 considerations for vendors DSW Transaction Services acts as a financial due diligence provider to both buyers and sellers. Despite the current environment, we have a number of deals ongoing in resilient sectors. However, the impact of COVID-19 and the UK lockdown is universal and the following is a summary of … Continued
VAT changes to e-books – not the end of the story yet Recently the government trumpeted the news that they are ‘fast-tracking’ the VAT changes to e-publications by introducing VAT zero-rating on 1st May, rather than on 1st December. However, what is not being reported so widely is that HMRC have been resisting (and I … Continued
Fraud Awareness The current climate will inevitably put renewed pressures on the financial targets of companies and individuals, and may see some previously concealed frauds bubbling to the surface. Our Forensic Accounting team would like to share some valuable advice about how to minimise potential risks and steps to consider if you suspect fraudulent activity … Continued
Property Portfolio Incorporation with James Dow and Richard Major
Dow Schofield Watts has made two new appointments to its corporate finance team in Yorkshire & the North East in response to a high level of new deal activity. Matt Spence and Jonathan Wilkinson both join from EY in Leeds, where they qualified as Chartered Accountants. Matt spent six years at EY advising clients ranging from FTSE 100 businesses and multinational groups … Continued