Suhail Shaikh M&A Advisory

03/03/2025

One of the biggest questions I get from business owners is about tax.

Tax is a tricky topic and while I am not a tax accountant (you should always seek professional tax advice) there are a few ways you can mitigate tax risk.

One of the best ways of managing tax is having a group structure in place. Normally you would need to have a group structure in place for at least a year and that holding company own at least 10% of the company that you want to sell.

Any business sales made in a group structure is free from Capital Gains. This allows you to move money around the group into to different investments producing future earnings for you.

Now, if you just want to take a windfall into your personal bank account unfortunately the tax man is always there.

In the UK at least, you can take advantage of Business Asset Disposal Relief until 2027. In 2025 - 2026 tax on the first £1 million will be at 14% moving to 18% in 2026.

Compared to the normal Capital Gains rate of 24% you can potentially save £100k.

For other jurisdictions, contact your local tax accountant and financial advisor to see where you can save on tax of your business sale.

Call now to connect with business.

28/06/2024

First post in 2 weeks. Was busy with existing business and celebrating Eid 2 weeks ago. This week we are in final stages of an acquisition. Exciting times.

Cautiously I say this acquisition has been smoother than previous ones. We're still not over the line yet so I'm not counting my eggs before they hatch but we are due to complete in 3 days (today is Friday and we are due Monday).

The final week before acquisition is always interesting. So much back and forth between lawyers and accountants on legal and financial clauses and points.

We should always let our advisors do their jobs but you ultimately need to have your entrepreneurial hat on. When the professionals are going back and forth I ask myself a few questions:

What is the potential risk?
What is the value of the risk?
What is the lieklyhood of the clause being activated?
If the clause is activated what is the potential outcome?
What is the likelhood of that potential outcome being actualised?

Once I have the answers to the questions I take the required action and to either push back or keep the deal moving.

As I wrote this I spoke to the seller to push back on a point which has been agreed.

Doing deals is fun, but always keep a cool hat on and never get emotionally involved.

17/06/2024

Last week I released a video on my YouTube channel about only ever dealing with motivated sellers when buying a business.

In my experience, sellers who have external reasons to sell the business are the only ones who work with you, not against you to get a deal to completion.

I have previously had dealings with sellers who are selling more for the money than other external factors and in most cases it's a non-starter for me as a SME buyer.

They're just a pain to deal with.

We always want to do deals that are workable on both sides and we don't want to take advantage of anyone who is in pain to sell their business, but it also needs to make investment sense to move forward with a transaction.

A sale and acquisition needs to be where both parties are working toward the same goal of getting a deal to completion.

You can also end up with a lower price and a better deal structure which always helps.

Motivated sellers are the only type of sellers who can accommodate that.

You can watch the video here:

👉Get the FREE 7 Step Blueprint on How to Buy Your First Business https://suhailshaikhbusiness.com/buybizblueprintIn this video I discuss the reasons why you...

12/06/2024

Everyone knows about growing your business via sales & marketing...

But there is a 3rd way to grow your business.

Check out the latest video on YouTube about the best ways to gorw your business: https://youtu.be/_0RMdrh34uM

11/06/2024

Just got this from another person who posts on LinkedIn.

It's completely true.

1. Most people have never sold a business before. You’ll need to help the seller through the process, and sometimes even manage their unfounded expectations

2. It’s a people task, not an excel exercise - no one ever put together a model that looked bad

3. If you can’t agree the basics at Heads of Terms, the whole deal will be a nightmare

4. Integration is gonna take a lot longer than you originally thought

5. You need to “love” your company and the process, otherwise you’ll give up

Forecasts are great, but it's all about people in SMB transactions.

I'm a bit of a emotionless person but SMB owners act more on emotion than logic. If you can manage and anticipate emotions you can get a deal done.

10/06/2024

10/06/2024

Only Buy Businesses from Motivated Sellers.

All other sellers are a waste of time & will drain your resources.

07/06/2024

Get your important decisions done in the morning.

I've had an eventful morning working on our group of companies and an acquisition in progress.

Part of being a productive CEO is ensuring your exec team is focusing on the biggest value drivers for the business.

More importantly, you only work on the highest value tasks.

Working on the high value tasks early in the day ensures you do the important things first.

The business acquisition is what I like working on and if executed correctly can bring massive upside to your the business.

If you want to find out more about how to buy a business, DM me to get the FREE 7 Step Blueprint on How to Buy Your First Business

05/06/2024

I'll pass on this business acquisition thank you very much...

I just got off the phone to a potential business seller.

It's important to build rapport with someone you speak to, so we got off to a friendly start. Don't get me wrong the whole call was friendly, but it didn't last long.

I asked about the sellers motivations. It was a change of direction in their life. They were getting along a bit but were far from retirement age.
Makes me think whether they are truly motivated 🤔.

When I started asking about their business metrics, they told me they turnedover a grand total of £260,000 a year with 9 members of revenue generating staff!

When I dug a bit deeper, most of them are part time. It may be good for the staff to work like that, but the business owner is not making the most out of their business.

My businesses are far from perfect, but when I look at buying a business I want to make sure I'm not starting from such a low base.

One 10 minute phone call is all you need to know whether a business acquisition is a non-starter.

£260k turnover with £20k profit. I think I'll pass thank you very much.

If you want to find out more on what questions you need to ask business sellers and how you can buy your first (or next) business, get the FREE 7 Step Blueprint to Buying Your FIrst Business: https://suhailshaikhbusiness.com/buybizblueprint

04/06/2024

Rapid Acquisitions Lead to Rapid Faliure.

A bold claim, but read on.

Ever heard of people glorifying business owners who bought 24 businesses in 1 year?

I uploaded a YouTube video yesterday sharing my thoughts on how a slower business acquisition strategy is a better option for sustainable business growth.

Rapid acquisitions can lead to rapid faliure as we have seen from many examples in recent years.

I'm not saying that you cannot have an aggressive acquisition strategy, but I've found having good funding partnerships, a strong acquisition team & a great integration methodolgy is key to ensuring acquisitions are absorbed into any group your may be building.

Watch the video by clicking here: https://youtu.be/or2gQYduBlM

If you want to find out more about how to buy your first business, get the FREE 7 Step Blueprint on How to Buy Your First Business: https://suhailshaikhbusiness.com/buybizblueprint