Business owners in vulnerable sectors: predominantly retailers, leisure and entertainment trades, will have seen their hard-won capital all but exhausted by the needs to meet fixed costs when income generation has been restricted or eliminated by lock-down directives.
And this is in spite of the valiant attempts by Rishi Sunak and his team at the Treasury to provide financial support to those businesses in the COVID firing-line.
Even with a gradual taming of COVID infections as the vaccines start to do their work, we probably have at least another six months of disruption to cope with before its back to business as usual.
In the face of these challenges what can beleaguered business owners do to protect their capital base and be in a position step back into the ring as and when consumers start to edge out of their front doors and start spending?
How about looking at your business in this way:
- List all of your fixed costs, those that you have to pay even if you have no income coming in and cancel as many as you can that can be re-established when markets open up again. Obviously, many will be tied to contracts that cannot be broken. In which case:
- Contact suppliers, landlords, service providers etc., and see if you can negotiate a moratorium on payments for a period, a reduction in payments or the cancellation of contracts.
- When this work is done rework your business plan for the next year and speak to your bank or other sources to secure any cash required to meet the likely dips in cash resources.
- Start to think about waking up your business when consumer interest in spending starts to increase demand for your goods or services.
Finally, speak to us. There is no substitute for sharing this planning process with your professional adviser. We know your business. We know how you have burned the midnight oil to develop your business and the problems you have overcome along the way. We can, and we want to help. Call now so we can start to unravel your options.
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