The access and mobility market has been through some tough times over the past few years. It’s fair to say that is has been more robust than many other industries. However, you may be thinking that now could be the right time to step back and take some chips off the table. Either by selling completely or by becoming less involved whilst maintaining some ownership.
Reasons To Sell
Other owners we are speaking to are selling for a variety of reasons:
- Retirement – the owner of one company started the business 30 years ago. Their children do not want to take on the business. However, the owner would like to see their hard work and brand continue on.
- Relief from ownership – Another owner wants to remain with their business but doesn’t want the hassle and stress associated with ownership. We are planning to take on the business and employ them.
- Moving out of the sector – It has been a tough few years. Perhaps you have other interests or businesses you want to explore? Selling can give you that freedom. As above, we would also be open to you working for us full-time or part-time work if you desired.
- Don’t want to sell to a large corporate – We are 2 founders with a passion for the access and mobility market. We want each business to live on and retain its management team and staff.
Our Purchase Criteria
- Sector: We are looking for Lift installation and services companies that would ideally be able to operate if you – the owner – has moved on. This may involve promoting someone within your team to manager if you currently perform this function. We would prefer to promote from the existing team but it may require hiring someone to do this role.
- Replacement Costs: If an external hire is needed to manage the business then the profitability must be sufficient to cover the salary of an experienced manager, £40,000 salary plus NI and pension. So remove your costs (salary, car, dividend, pension) to see if there’s enough profit to cover it.
- An Excellent Team: We wouldn’t have reached out to you otherwise. We want to maintain the name and reputation you have built up. In order to do this we would want to keep as much of the team as possible. Sometimes that’s not possible. Especially if family members provide some key functions such as finance or customer services. In any case, we would work with you to keep as much of the team together as possible.
- Confidential: We promise to keep our conversations confidential. If required, we can sign a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). Visits to your site can be done later in the process and only when it would cause the least amount of disturbance.
- Profitable: We are not too concerned about the level of profitability or if it has changed significantly over the last few years. The only criteria on profit is that there is some profit after the director’s costs (replacement costs) have been added back. Also consider if the business could support you if you were to switch to a salary. See point 2 above.
- Property: If you own the property the business currently operates out of then we can either buy it from you or rent it from you to provide you another retirement revenue stream.
Advantages To Joining Our Group
When a company joins the group they will instantly get access to an array of key business functions that we have developed and tailored to the Stairlift and Elevator market. So if you decide to stay with us, you can be freed up to focus on the part of your business that you love. If however, you fully exit and handover to us then you can rest assured our sales, marketing and operations teams will allow your legacy to live on. We always look to retain the existing management teams to ensure a seamless transition process and protect jobs. Our philosophy is promote from within, so we’re always on the lookout for the next general manager or function leader.
- Branding, Marketing & PR Traditional and digital marketing capabilities focused on attracting new stairlift and lift customers. Website development, Google Ads, content creation, brand strategy and PR is all done in-house.
- Sales We have dedicated business development managers seeking out opportunities with private individuals, councils, and businesses across the country.
- HR Access to our HR support function.
- Finance & Bookkeeping We bring your accounts over to our system and manage all bookkeeping and HMRC reporting. All you have to do is submit expenses via your phone.
- Operations Our office staff are experts at scheduling visits, dispatching engineers and organising deliveries. They excellent at discussing options with customers, keep tabs engineers and managing the vans for a seamless service delivery.
Note, we can also provide the key business functions outlined above at any point in time ‘as-a-service’. It doesn’t necessarily need to be as part of an acquisition. We can work together to tailor them to your specific business’ needs.
About Us and Our Company Vision
Our mission is to serve customers in a dignified, high quality and fair way. We believe in doing things right and strive to find ways to give our customers a better standard of living. Phillip Rice’s attention to detail and motto of ‘doing it right’ is a key differentiator and it’s already paying dividends as evidenced by Anglian Lift’s growth and positive customer feedback.
The stairlift and elevator industries have a diverse range of companies. Some provide excellent service and really look after their clients – as does yours. Our ambition is to grow a group that is successful by doing things right. And that to us means doing it right by our customers and our employees.
Oliver Mellor
Trained engineer; Marketing and strategy professional. Career in large corporates
I am a management consultant specialising in sales and marketing. What I bring is a high level view of the industry and the strategy to grow. I was introduced to the access and mobility industry by Phil Rice. What I’ve learned is that there is a huge potential to offer services at the right price and do it in a way that provides excellent customer service. As you know, the lifts we install usually have an incredibly moving story attached.
Phil Rice
MD of Anglian Lifts, Board member of the British Healthcare Trades Association
Worked in the mobility industry for the past 25 years, specialising in stairlifts, home lifts, hydraulic platform lifts, hoists and through floor lifts. He has in depth technical knowledge and experience in both the manufacturing and retail channels within the United Kingdom and the US. Phil worked his way up from engineer to managing director positions including MD at MediTek Stairlifts (based in County Durham) and the President of MediTek Inc. in Apex, North Carolina, USA. Phil is currently the Managing Director of Anglian Lifts Ltd in Peterborough.
Next steps
Talking to us is 100% confidential. We’re friendly and approachable. If you are not sure if you want to sell feel free to have a chat anyway. We’re in this for the long-term so it is always nice to make new connections. You never know how things will turn out.
Timing
If the timing isn’t right for an exit or partnership right now, that’s not a problem. It doesn’t hurt to have a discussion around the subject. We’re in this for the long-term. Don’t hesitate to call me directly on 0115 888 3551 or send me an email Oliver.Mellor@Anglian-Lifts.co.uk for a confidential discussion.
I look forward to hearing from you.
