The wonder of a Woolworths administration

It maybe just me but there is something about the current Woolworths administration that leaves a very nasty taste in the mouth. Maybe it is the cynical timing i.e. maximum stock and creditors leading up to the maximum cash generating period ensuring maximum return to secured creditors, the somewhat cavalier treatment of staff , the vulture like circling by major retail chains looking at taking on the prime store sites or the general fact that this has all the appearance of a liquidation rather than administration.

Whatever it is I think there may be grounds for an official enquiry into the whole process, from examining in particular the behaviour of the secured creditors and the administrators, to seeing if there are ways during an administration to better serve the unsecured creditors, employees, the economy and the wider community. Maybe Woolworths was an idea who time had been and gone, and that this was a mercy killing, but if that is the case I think it deserved to die with a lot more dignity that it has.

2012 and all that

There may be doubts as to whether the Chancellor’s VAT stimulus is the best way to get the economy going, given its consumer focus rather than business one, but there is another massive injection of cash taking place targeted directly at businesses that should have them salivating.

I refer of course to the 2012 London Olympics. To investigate these opportunities further a couple of us pitched up to a briefing held at Lords Cricket Ground (it’s a tough life etc…..) run by the London Business Network. There we listened to speakers from the London 2012 Forum, UKTI and even the British Columbia Ministry of Technology (I am sure I don’t need to tell you that the 2010 Winter Olympics are taking place in Vancouver).

Case studies were also presented and it was worth noting that it is not just businesses that are involved in construction and sports services that will benefit. Examples were given of small local florists and catering companies who have also won contracts.

One other point that emerged from the Lords briefing was that Olympic and sporting opportunities should persist long after the flame has been put out on the London games due to the transferable skills that will be gained in the infrastructure and support industries. There are world and regional championships being held on a frequent basis that could provide business opportunities for those that keep their eye on the ball.

I am sure that SMART businesses have already registered with the opportunities website but for those that have not quite got round to doing so the link is below.

London 2012 Opportunities

Recession? Chinawhite? Check your testicles? What's the connection?

Off to Chinawhite for a charity event for the Everyman campaign run by the Institute of Cancer Research. The campaign funds research into male cancer, primarily prostate and testicular cancer. As Finance Directors we would normally balk at paying 10 Pounds for a drink but as this is going to charity we let it go. It seems that many others were in an even more generous mood taking full part in the auction which raised many thousands of pounds for the charity through prizes such as backstage passes to the Britney Spears concert at the O2 next year. In the melee were a Dragon from Dragons Den and a lovely female participant from Strictly Come Dancing.

The event was organised by our friends at Alexander Tate (http://www.alexandertate.com/ ) which has worked as an ambassador for the ICR for nearly three years now.

Talking to various entrepreneurs provided us with further confirmation that the business community isnt as gloomy as the media would make out. Infact many well funded entrepreneurs see this as an opportunity to make acquisitions on the cheap.

Meanwhile, a final plug for the charity, their website is http://www.everyman-campaign.org/ and you can hear Rachel Stevens telling you how to examine your testicles here .

Successful entrepreneurs – How to sell your business to Microsoft

An excellent evening last night hosted by the wealth management division of an international bank, at which two entrepreneurs talked about how they built successful businesses.

Firstly, Sean Phelan, founder of Multimap in 1995, talked about how he foresaw the convergence of mobile phones, GPS data and the internet and set up Multimap to exploit the convergence. He varied the business model along the way when he couldn’t get mobile phone networks to show any interest and this led to Multimap becoming a website-led service. The business grew strongly as Sean looked to cash in some of the wealth he’d created by seeking a minority investor in 2007. He eventually sold the business entirely to Microsoft in December 2007.

Next, Michael Acton-Smith, co-founder of online retailer Firebox discussed the challenges of being first to market. “We noticed there weren’t any competitors on the internet. Unfortunately, there weren’t any customers either”. Michael spoke about persevering if you know something is right and that a market is coming. However, he also talked about how Firebox raised £500k from VCs, took on too many highly paid staff and made a loss of £400k the following year. Realising the error of his ways he then downsized the team and went on to make £400k profit the following year.

The key messages we took from the excellent speakers were:
1. Be patient – many business plans talk about an exit after year 3 or 5 but in most cases it takes much longer than that; 12 years in Multilmap’s case.
2. Review and modify your business plan as you gather more information. If something’s not going to work, change it before its too late, but make sure it’s not that you’re just too early!
3. Keep an eye on your costs – sound obvious but don’t get carried away by having a pile of cash from investors.
4. If you can sell to Microsoft, then do! Sean didn’t reveal the sale value but we suspect it wasn’t trivial! Microsoft are good payers!