Businesses are selling and Banks are lending - Ernest Wilsons view

Business sales at Ernest Wilsons continue on a pace and along with that the days seem to be one long conversation about finance! Which is great! Lloyds TSB Commercial certainly seem to have a renewed appetite for Enterprise Guarantee Scheme (EFG) Loan funding and the Government’s Funding for Lending Scheme is helping bring EFG pricing right down to that of conventional secured loans. Plus I understand the 1.5% arrangement fee is waived for all applications before the 1st March 2013 – and quite a few are taking advantage of that! Certainly it is pleasing to see an increasing number of loans being approved for Business purchase.
This last week a 21 year old young man was appointed as a Subpostmaster in a nearby Sub Post Office that is to be transferred from the current scale payment contract to a new “Local” contract – well done to him. He used our “Buying a Sub Post Office Support Service” which put him in the best position to present most professionally at the Post Office interview which for him lasted 2 hours! It is such a satisfying conversation to have when the call comes in “I got it!” A customer showed me recently a Fixed Rate Business Loan agreement which appeared to have an “embedded derivative” written into it (rather than a separate hedging agreement covered by MiFID)– certainly the advised breakage fees were astronomical and lent weight to this interpretation – I wonder how many other of the Banks business customers think they have a “bob standard” fixed rate business loan but it actually incorporates breakage clauses like this which are linked to prevailing market rates! They will certainly get a shock when they come to repay the loan whilst base rates are so low – as this client certainly did. I notice from a simple internet search that there is a growing movement highlighting this issue.

If you have any questions or need assistance with buying a Sub Post Office or indeed with the raising of finance for any business purchase do not hesitate to telephone me on 0113 238 2900 or email me at martin.humberstone@ernest-wilson.co.uk

Sub Post Office Loan and Post Office Business Plan - all sorted!

Here at Ernest Wilsons we have been liaising with LloydsTSB’s Chesterfield Business Centre who I have to say have put together a very competitive offer of finance for a client purchasing a Sub Post Office. Interest Rate offered is 4.39% above base rate even though some of the £250,000 facility is unsecured and across 15 years. Great to see the local management team keen to lend and quick to put a workable deal together. Well done Lloyds.


A gentleman rang from London this week anxious that the Business Plan submitted to the Post Office had been rejected despite help from a financial advisor, putting his whole subpostmaster application in jeopardy ! I was glad to look at the plan and make the necessary amendments to ensure it conveyed the right information and it has been successfully resubmitted. The Post Office Business Plan is bespoke to the Post Office and not in the form of a traditional business plan, and whilst it takes some getting used to does provide the Post Office with an excellent financial overview of the viability of the application.

Should anyone require help with sourcing finance or help with the Sub Post Office application process do not hesitate to give me a ring at Ernest Wilsons on 0113 238 2900

Ernest Wilsons - good news about Lloyds TSB and the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme

In my capacity at Ernest Wilsons in introducing buyers to finance providers I chatted to Lloyds TSB Commercial again today who advised that they have a real appetite to help businesses via the Enterprise Finance Guarantee Scheme. Indeed until 31 December all approved applications benefit from keen rates. Indeed one quote received today for a £100,000 EFG loan (to buy a Sub Post Office) was at 3.1% above base rate, 3.1%! That is keen in my view and no arrangement fee for a short period either (usually 1.5% of loan amount). The Scheme assists a proposed borrower who has a good proposition that meets the usual cannons of lending criteria accept there is insufficient security, in which case the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills will provide a guarantee for 75% of the unsecured loan, subject to a 2% annual guarantee fee. More to it than that, but that is a very quick overview. So don’t wait until after the Xmas holidays to approach Ernest Wilsons if you need help arranging finance to buy that business! These very attractive rates may not be available then. I have to say the Relationship Managers I deal with at Lloyds are certainly hungry to lend. Took another call from a lady needing help with buying a Sub Post Office and the application process, daunted especially by the Business Plan and Interview – no problem glad to help.