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Understanding the market

Written by: Nicholas Fraser

Article Overview: As some of you know I have built SM Mentors predominantly on the telephone. That is I call and discuss business issues with owners of Small to Medium enterprises (£500K - £25Mn) on a three month cycle to be ready to help when they need it. As part of this I continuously get asked how other businesses are faring. This month I have taken a more disciplined view and recorded the comments to get a bellwether of what is going on. The answer in one word is mixed.

Understanding the market

As some of you know I have built my mentoring business predominantly on the telephone. That is I call and discuss business issues with owners of Small to Medium enterprises (£500K - £25Mn) on a three month cycle to be ready to help when they need it. As part of this I continuously get asked how other businesses are faring. This month I have taken a more disciplined view and recorded the comments to get a bellwether of what is going on. The answer in one word is mixed. Some are doing well, others not so well and some terribly! Looking back I have spoken to over 50 businesses this month and a further 100 or so in the previous 2 to 3 months (not a lot of calling in August!). I have tried to extract some of the comments giving a range of businesses (both in terms of size and type) to reflect this feedback. Be aware it is highly subjective and restricted to Hertfordshire based businesses. I hope you find it useful. If you want to discuss your business or this survey give me a call.

Business Type	Comment
Service Equipment Supplier	Business OK but cash very difficult. Looking at liquidation or pre packing the business
Consumer Mobile and Audio Accessories	UK market very poor but Export market very good especially in Spain and France
Air Conditioning Systems	Good growth although margins being hit hard
Bicycle Shop	Variable sales throughout the year. Not as bad as he thought in January but now tailing off
Double Glazing Company	Downturn started in May – having to make redundancies now
Branded Toiletries	Manically busy and strong growth from branded propositions
Self Drive/Car Hire	Business still dreadful and new competitors arriving!
Garden Centre	Can’t grumble. Much better than expected especially due to good weather.
Creative Agency	Terrible start to the year but just taken on a big social housing client with lots of revenue
Aluminium Supplier	Appalling. Never seen a decline with such speed and ferocity. Surviving just.
Electronics Manufacturer	Turnover down £2M and broke even for the year. We consider ourselves lucky
Fashion Supplier	Turnover up £2M but margins badly affected. Prospects good for 2010 with margin recovery too
Cleaning Products Distribution	Good growth from aggressive telemarketing and also by acquisitions
Energy and Battery Products	40% growth year on year
Property Management	Grown 7% this year and maintained profits
Business Forms – Internet	Grown turnover 10% and profits even more so
Internet Shoe Retailer	Sales growth by 30% year on year
Electronics Business	Laid of 1/3 workforce – cut salaries 10%

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