Who says retail is dying? Maplin to grow 100 stores

Maplin plans online and store expansion

The Yorkshire based retailer of accessories, supplies more than 15,000 products including cables, components, IT & computing equipment, sat navs, tools and TV equipment, cables and satellite systems. It will expand its online presence and support this with opening of up to 100 NEW STORES.

Along with the old retail mantra of "site, site, site", the owners of the business provide things that people want to buy, with friendly expert employees to guide them, at a good price, either online or face to face in a store.

Not at all difficult, but increasingly unusual.

Given the number of failed retail operations and desperate landlords, we are sure that there will be plenty of sites available!

The message is clear - retailers, of any sort, must adapt or die. So, if your retail operation needs to restructure, call Cheswick. From business asset sales, CVA and through to pre-pack administration we can set a strategy and drive the solutions.

We have extensive retail experience in our own portfolio, our MD Keith Steven, was a retailer for 19 years and in the last 18 years he has turned around pubs, hotels, clothing shops, juice bars, through to tattoo / piercing outlets.

At a Chris Cardell Marketing Mastermind Conference

Brilliant first two hours. Marketing guru sure does open your eyes

Does your business have a REAL. Marketing Plan!

Call Keith Steven he will build you a marketing plan!

020 74166677 or 07903 097052

Had a threat of distraint? How to avoid it.

Some creditors like NNDR - non domestic rates levied by the local authority, HMRC and landlords can use this powerful debt collection technique. DISTRAINT or to distrain against possessions is an ancient process.

Any creditor has the power to enter a property and take possession of goods and assets, if they obtain a court order. However, HMRC or landlords do not need a court order as they have ancient rights to collect their debts. 

If you owe taxes, the first step in the process is usually a visit by an HMRC “field officer” who is usually based locally and whose initial purpose is to check the address and make contact. After that they may enforce the debt by taking “walking possession” of any goods such as stock or equipment, or even cars outside your premises.....

So what is walking possession then?

This is where an HMRC officer or a bailiff (for the County Court) or Sheriff (for the High Court) has visited your premises and obtained entry under such a distraint notice. He /she has asked for payment of the non disputed debts, you don't pay - so he takes possession of the goods before walking away for up to 5 days.

If you cannot do a deal with the creditor  in 5 days, i.e pay in full or in part, then the goods are removed and sold at auction, usually for a pittance that just about covers the distraint costs!

To try and sell the assets, after they are covered in this way is a criminal offence. If the bailiff has obtained a walking possession he can force entry to recover the goods after the 5 day period.  

Threats of distraint or legally taking possession of goods should not be ignored. YOU LOSE CONTROL.

What can be done if you have such a threat. Well firstly consider a business asset sale, secondly place the company into a CVA or company voluntary arrangement (needs time), thirdly you could use an administration process. All these processes are described in detail here; www.companyrescue.co.uk 

We are seeing an increase in the number of distraint actions against our callers. Don't wait for this drastic action by your creditors, ACT NOW.

Call us on 020 7416 6677 now.

Had a threat of distraint ? Call now, it may not be too late to act, the business can be rescued.

Pizza Hut for £1 - CVA to clean up stores

Rutland Partners are to buy UK Pizza Hut company for £1.

We predict a company voluntary arrangement will be used to close or restructure rents on 100 badly performing stores.

Tired brand but huge distribution and presence. I predict the experts at Rutland can turn this around into a quite profitable business. They recently sold an adult nappy business that was possibly a tougher challenge than Pizza Hut?

Fine example of BRILLIANT marketing

Newcastle United to use WONGA as a sponsor!

Watching Twitter right now the marketing results for the very smart people who suggested this to

Newcastle United and

Wonga

must be very content!

THOUSANDS of tweets, mostly ill informed.

One idiot with a calculator suggests that you will owe billions to Wonga if you don't repay after several years, er yes, that is a mathematical result of your skill on a 1.99 calculator, NOT what the company will ever allow.

per my last blog on this subject, remember money is not cheap anymore, simple banking will attract monthly fees soon...and we will see lots more Wonga products online soon.

To the genius with the Poundstretcher calculator, try going overdrawn on a Lloyds bank account without permission for a few weeks and see what that costs. Then do the maths, then remember it is owned by the state

Is Wonga for business a brilliant product or a rip off?

We have had decades of cheap or relatively cheap money. We have had a boom and a bust. In our view money is no longer a cheap or abundant product. And this could last 10 years or more.

In 1983 I had to wait 9 months to get on the list of applicants for a mortgage at my local building society, during which time I had to lodge my pay slips religiously every month. Then 4 months later the magic day came, yes you can have a mortgage!

Should we get used to rationed mortgages, more expensive loans and credit cards? Yes, and more expensive business loans and overdrafts.

Turning to the title of this blog, Wonga has a business product which is in my mind excellent. When visiting their site www.wongabusiness.com you simply enter how much money your company wants up to £15,000 and how long you want to take to pay it back - up to maximum of one year. A slider tool tells you how much you pay. Brilliantly simple.

Of course the whingeing journos in the Daily Mail bleat about 4200% APR for personal loans, which is categorically rubbish. On this page you can see the cost of the fees and interest and you get offered a simple monthly repayment. How easy is that? If you pay that back you can borrow more. Yes woe betide if you don't because personal guarantees (PGs) apply.

Compared to credit cards and credit card cheques (remember them) that I used to start some of my early business ventures, there is not a great deal of difference in cost. For example £15,000 will cost £19,350 to repay, a rate of near 30%.

But you know what? The monthly repayment is shown as 52 weekly repayments of £372.12. So that will seem affordable to many.

Remember a personal credit card is taken out at your personal risk, so what is the difference really to a PG for Wonga?

Whilst many people think the market is dysfunctional in lending to SME businesses I see more products like this coming to market for small companies whilst the old dinosaur banks concentrate on capital adequacy and compliance, not providing banking to small businesses.

How many small businesses will use this to cover emergency VAT payments, or meet rent or wages in a short term cashflow crisis? A lot is my guess.

Company Voluntary Arrangements in Action

Our director Keith Steven is off to Birmingham today to make a presentation to 60 people at the Turnaround Management Association gathering on CVAs in action! Thanks to Gateley for being hosts.

Keith will be presenting a live case study on a retailer KSA Group, our sister company,  turned around recently.

CVAs can help viable but struggling companies restructure debts, cut costs and survive. Long term growth may still be difficult without specialist turnaround advisors.

Rachael Campbell, Gateley LLP, a Turnaround Lawyer will be speaking on legal matters concerning CVAs.

Bryan Green, CEO & Principal, Tnui Ltd., Lawyer, Funder and current President, TMA-UK will speak on numerous aspects for funding distressed businesses and will present his view of CVAs from a funders perspective.