Business Growth, Advice for Small Sized Business, How to Sell Your Business, Tips to Grow Your Business: Pembridge Partners

February 4th seminar: Are you getting the most out of your IP?

All businesses have some forms of Intellectual Property (IP) and need to make an informed decision as to how to use IP to create a competitive advantage.

Creating an IP strategy helps your business focus on your key IP assets and how best to protect, develop and maximise the value of IP with the available budget.

If your business has or is developing valuable IP, this event is designed to help you:
• Understand the value of your IP
• Learn how to develop your IP from an IP Lawyer, an Investor and a panel of successful entrepreneurs
• Recognise your IP in all its forms
• Finance, exploit, and protect your IP
• Understand the basics of copyright, patent and trademark law in the UK
• Appreciate the importance of an effective IP strategy
• Tackle any overseas IP issues
• Ask questions of the speakers and panel members and network with 100 fellow entrepreneurs

The seminar will be held at The Terrace Restaurant, The British Library, 96 Euston Road, London, on Thursday 4 February 2010; from 6pm to 9 pm. To register, please click here.

Andy Tait, from Pembridge, will be speaking. He has more than 20 years experience in developing and licensing both technology and digital content to companies including; Microsoft, Intel, Nokia and ARM, Sony, Taito and LEGO. Andy has co-founded businesses served on the boards of both private and publicly quoted companies in the UK and USA and has also been central to the raising of more than £60m in equity finance. In his current role with Pembridge, he overseas and advises on investment in high growth businesses where creativity and technology meet.

New opportunities for future media deals, with recent market dip

Due to a lack of private equity finance, 2009 saw a dip in activity not seen since dotcom crash, reported The Guardian this week. It followed a recent PricewaterhouseCoopers report that revealed only 29 media deals were struck in the UK last year, a 36% year-on-year fall compared with 2008, with a value of €2.7bn (£2.39bn). What does this mean for media business owners?

Rose Lewis from Pembridge Partners explains how this provides new opportunities for those looking to sell, whether that be in the short- or long-term.

"The market should significantly pick up this year, but we will not see the same explosive growth as in 2006 and 2007 - after all, we are facing the lowest number of media deals since 2002," says Lewis. "We will not see a fast rebound in acquisitions this year."

Yet, she continues, there is some evidence that the market is improving - since two deals were announced this month. "And, after all - who can ignore the Cadbury deal this week!"

Chime recently acquired Pelham PR, and Tree (a data company), although "an indicative valuation on Pelham is 5.5x - which is not quite the heady valuations that vendors were used to, a couple of years ago."

Additionally, Cagney sold CST to media square for £430k, further showing that values are nowhere near as high as those of 2007.

So if valuations remain on this low level, Lewis advises, those considering the sale of their business might consider a different deal structure that rewards for future growth.

"For those who do not want to sell right now, it's vital to start thinking about preparing the business for the long-term and grooming it for the future, so that when valuations improve, the business is in great shape to sell," she adds. "This means that you will benefit from higher valuations when buyers come back to the market."

The businesses which were sold out of the last recession, she says, were some of the few that were in good enough shape to buy.

However, she points out, exceptional assets will always sell. These are the ones with strong growth, over a million in EBITDA, coupled with an outstanding management team, a strong client list, and excellent margins.

"Digital assets will also sell," she says, echoing PwC's claim that traditional media companies' need to go digital to drive deals later this year.

If you would like to know more about how Pembridge can help with the sale of your business, please email info@pembridge.net or call +44 845 2600 344.

2010: That's hot

Hot sectors are the ones to watch, to know, and to recognize as positioned for future explosive growth. This helps business owners to plan where they make their investments, whether it be in recruiting new staff with those skills, or going after clients with those needs.

Where will this year's scorchers be? The only areas of any positivity in 2009 were digital - with Q4 as the largest online Christmas selling season ever. There are clearly some new opportunities, with so much traffic moving online (and online stores running out of stock faster than physical ones).

2010 will see a bit of a flip back, where there will be a realization of offline marketing importance, as well as online. The hot areas will be monitoring services for effectiveness of online activity, not creative products; and innovative viral marketing; in the offline sector, we may see a comeback.

“What I think will be hot is how digital and social media will impact internal communications,” says Partner Rose Lewis. “Plus, social media and its impact on customer relationship management - those companies driving innovation in this area will do well.”

Another trend to watch out for in 2010 is Social media for Employee Assistance programmes.

What was not hot last year? Print advertising and events (both expensive, and with questionable returns). Those should see a slow comeback in 2010 – but that doesn’t make them hot.

If you would like Pembridge to help with developing a plan for how your company could take advantage of the latest industry trends, please email info@pembridge.net or call +44 845 2600 344.

5 New Year's Resolutions to Grow Your Business

Doing what's obvious is not always easy, as David Maister explains in "Strategy and the Fat Smoker" (one of our favorite books). As 2010 dawns, and New Year's resolutions abound, how can your company follow through on the new promises it makes to itself?

1. Have a big idea. What's the big idea you are selling to your clients this year? Partner Mark Adams says, "Companies have been in 'deep detailed execution' in 2009 - recovery, reduction, restriction. We need mentally to get our minds out into 'grab the future' mode."

2. Plan meticulously and execute relentlessly. Fortune may favor the bold, but there is a difference between big ideas and big risks. Partner Rose Lewis says, "As we come out of recession, companies still need to execute on a well-thought plan. The market isn't quite ready for big risks yet, and if you have had flat growth in 2009, it's better to do a measured approach." Measure your performance - know whether your plan is adding value by tracking your performance against key value drivers.

3. Focus on your key strengths. Create an unfair competitive advantage by doing something you are good at, something that your company uniquely excels at. You should know, better than anyone else, what makes you money. (If you don't, come in and see us and we'll be happy to help you sort it out).

4. Be hungry, really hungry for new business. This is where your investment should be going. Get on the phone, get out into the market and start asking for the business.

5. Use partnerships. Investigate linking up with other companies who might offer complementary strengths to your own, to further increase your value proposition to potential new clients.

If you would like Pembridge to help you keep your New Year's resolutions by acting as a non-executive director on your board, or helping with a strategy review, please email info@pembridge.net or call +44 845 2600 344.