Time to sell up?

Sooner or later, most owners of a business want to retire. Gary Morley looks at how to plan a business sale, while Andrew Shilling considers the tax implications and suggests the best ways to minimise the taxman's cut

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It is quite common for sons or daughters not to have any interest in wanting to run the family business. Experience shows that it is wrong to try and cajole family members into taking on the responsibility of running a family business if they do not want to.

So how do owner/managers maximise the return on the business they own? The good news is that the maximum rate of tax on the profit from the sale of a business is unlikely to exceed 10 per cent.

Once you have taken the decision to sell, the first thing to do is to market the business. This could be to trade contacts you may already have or to advertise in publications such as optician.

The prospect of selling to a local competitor may fill you with dread, but it could make financial sense for both sides - even if it's only for them to remove a direct competitor. If you don't want to sell to a competitor you could also try selling through websites such as www.daltonsbusiness.com and www.christie.com. If you are hesitant about making public the sale of your business you could get your accountant and solicitor to front it for you and vet enquiries on your behalf. Alternatively you could use a PO Box number.

Whichever way you go about marketing, you need to furnish prospective purchasers with sufficient information for them to make an informed decision on the attractiveness of your business and its value.
You therefore need to produce a small pack of information which, as a minimum, should include the following: