Bullseye Car Parts

Back in September 2017, the owner of Bullseye informed me that he was selling the business. At that time, I’d been with the Company for 30 years, running it as MD for the past 6 years. But as I was beginning to consider my retirement plan, I wasn’t initially in the running for buying it myself. My Bank Manager recommended that I came with him to one of Shorts’ Corporate Finance seminars, to understand more about how an MBO could work. I came along and spoke to the Shorts Corporate Finance team, met Craig from NatWest and then something that initially seemed impossible, suddenly began to seem feasible.

The seminar was very informative and my Bank Manager quite calmly said to me ‘you can do this. We’ll support you, you’ll have a support team around you and we can make it happen’ and that was it, it hit me that day. I thought – ‘actually, I can do this.’ So I spoke again with the owner, and he agreed to take it off the market and let me progress with a Management Buyout.

When you make a momentous decision like you’re going to buy the business you’ve worked for, for the last 30 years, and the Bank are saying they are willing to support you, then the reality dawns, how do you actually do it? But working with Shorts was like having a ‘business SatNav’ showing me what to do next, telling me not to worry, and then just plotting the path for me – making something that initially seemed out of my reach, possible.

I’m a proud Yorkshireman, and I’m not one for paying for things if I can do them myself, but I very quickly understood how Shorts’ expertise made the journey not only possible, but much easier during quite a stressful time, whilst also saving me a substantial amount in set-up costs by negotiating with the Bank on our behalf and in tax planning. David Robinson helped us through the tax minefield. Bullseye has its own accountant, but working alongside him, David advised on tax issues of the business and me personally, that will save us both a lot of money, ongoing.

What’s most important, is just knowing that you got it right first time. Would I recommend Shorts? Very much so – in fact, I already have.