IrishRookie
Longterm Registered User
Hello all, It has been a while since I've posted here, hope you're all keeping well.
Now down to business, I personally know a couple of guys who post on here and I will try to touch base with them offline to see if they can offer any input but I also know this website harbours many an experienced security operative as well as company owners in the industry. Due to many of you being in the game decades your experience and advice is always appreciated, so I thought I'd run this one by you lot and see if you could point me in the right direction.
I have been asked if I would be interested in buying into an established security company, it's a small company of between 30 and 40 employees and the offer was only brought up in conversation recently as I was chatting to the owner about my intention to start a small security/cleaning service company.
I've started my research and due diligence into the company today, most financial and company statements are available to the public for a charge if you know where to look and the company appears to be profitable although not hugely and the salaries of the Directors appear to be modest but then there's always scope to grow and improve the service and as a result the financials.
The company is in existence about 10 years, it has survived the recession and appears to have the potential for continued growth, the company has seen a small financial increase over the last 3 years.
The main sectors the company operates in at the moment are retail and static and the odd event.
The salaries of the Director(s) appears to be about 5% each of the gross cost of running the business with a small annual profit equivalent to about 25% of that salary.
The Pro's versus starting my own company from scratch is, it's already established and has active contracts, it has an established brand although not widely known, the owner is a good guy from what I can tell and he works hard, I've worked a few gigs with him over the years, he's open to the idea of expansion and entering complimentary sectors.
The cons, "the unknowns" parachuting into a company that already has a long established culture and the possibility for company culture, expectation/personality clashes that may make it unworkable, risking capital investment, a huge time commitment at least for the first few years and possibly ongoing.
I've haven't been in this particular situation before so I would appreciate if any of you had any insight or experience in this area, what questions would you ask besides asking to see the accounts/financial statements, what other considerations would you be thinking about before jumping in?
Looking forward to any opinions at all.
Cheers, IR.
Now down to business, I personally know a couple of guys who post on here and I will try to touch base with them offline to see if they can offer any input but I also know this website harbours many an experienced security operative as well as company owners in the industry. Due to many of you being in the game decades your experience and advice is always appreciated, so I thought I'd run this one by you lot and see if you could point me in the right direction.
I have been asked if I would be interested in buying into an established security company, it's a small company of between 30 and 40 employees and the offer was only brought up in conversation recently as I was chatting to the owner about my intention to start a small security/cleaning service company.
I've started my research and due diligence into the company today, most financial and company statements are available to the public for a charge if you know where to look and the company appears to be profitable although not hugely and the salaries of the Directors appear to be modest but then there's always scope to grow and improve the service and as a result the financials.
The company is in existence about 10 years, it has survived the recession and appears to have the potential for continued growth, the company has seen a small financial increase over the last 3 years.
The main sectors the company operates in at the moment are retail and static and the odd event.
The salaries of the Director(s) appears to be about 5% each of the gross cost of running the business with a small annual profit equivalent to about 25% of that salary.
The Pro's versus starting my own company from scratch is, it's already established and has active contracts, it has an established brand although not widely known, the owner is a good guy from what I can tell and he works hard, I've worked a few gigs with him over the years, he's open to the idea of expansion and entering complimentary sectors.
The cons, "the unknowns" parachuting into a company that already has a long established culture and the possibility for company culture, expectation/personality clashes that may make it unworkable, risking capital investment, a huge time commitment at least for the first few years and possibly ongoing.
I've haven't been in this particular situation before so I would appreciate if any of you had any insight or experience in this area, what questions would you ask besides asking to see the accounts/financial statements, what other considerations would you be thinking about before jumping in?
Looking forward to any opinions at all.
Cheers, IR.
