Client profiles and case studies
The P&A Partnership is used to working with all manner of clients, ranging from the sole trader to the large multinational organisation. We work with a multitude of independent accountants, solicitors, business support agencies and consultants, as well as all the major high street banks, asset based lenders and many other financial institutions. In short we have a vast wealth of knowledge within our specialist field and we can interact with you on your level, whoever you are.
Obviously, client confidentiality prevents us from divulging specific details, but below are actual instances where we have helped people just like you.
Case studies:
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1
We were asked to look at a business that had been put into its bankers’ special lending unit. The company now 10 years old had hit a bad patch - sales had dropped from £2m to £700k in the past 2 years and the company was making losses. We were told the company had to be liquidated; however the company was not insolvent and its turnover had fallen as it had been developing a new product that was about to come on stream. We sourced new finance from another bank and from an invoice discounter - jobs of 10 employees saved and a viable business now flourishes.
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2
We were asked to call on a business that was under pressure from its bankers to carry out a second business review by a national firm in 2 years. Resistance from the client centred on benefits of the previous review and its costs. The bank agreed that we could carry out the review.
We found a typical scenario:-
- second-generation ineffective management,
- contracting debts where final accounts had never been agreed resulting in an aged debtor book that was eating up capital and overstating profits,
- extreme creditor pressure,
The company followed our recommendation and entered Administration. The second generation MD acknowledged his inefficiencies and passed over the reins to the contracts manager who introduced a disciplined approach to the business.
The company exited administration and entered into a Company Voluntary Arrangement and now after several years has complied with its CVA contract with its trade creditors, and continues to prosper. All stakeholders benefited - the creditors received a dividend, employees retained their jobs, the bank retained a profitable client, as did the auditors.
Client comments:
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Electrical Retailer - Sheffield
If we had been able to get debtors to settle as quickly as you have - in all likelihood we probably would not have found it necessary to go into liquidation.
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Building Contractor - Lincolnshire.
Bank "x" was keen to use a big "6" firm for the second time - luckily we were introduced to you by our accountants. With creditor support we entered into a voluntary arrangement, enabling us to keep our workforce and settle creditors as agreed in the arrangement. We firmly believe that without your intervention, a liquidation would have resulted.
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Engineering Company - South Yorkshire
We are a small "one product" company that suffered a major bad debt that nearly pushed us into liquidation. Your negotiations on our behalf with our major suppliers enabled us to keep trading - and 2 years on we are back in profit and with a positive cash flow.
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Retailer - Derbyshire
We are an old established cooked meats retailer - and have suffered from intense competition from supermarkets over the past 5 years. Your advice to close the business we now know was right. We only wish we had done so earlier. Your negotiations with our landlords were most helpful
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Pig Farmer - North Yorkshire
We are pig farmers and were introduced to P&A by our accountant - when the cost of production was twice the amount the pigs were fetching when sold. Our main (and very substantial) creditor was the feed merchant with whom P&A re-negotiated the amount outstanding. Land was sold and we retired without going through any formal procedures.