Tax Considerations for Preparing a Business for Sale

Over the months we will be looking at the various issues associated with preparing a business for sale and, most importantly, building the value of the business. This month Rob Southgate from Integrity Tax & Accountancy Solutions looks at it all from a tax perspective.

M&A Activity in the ICT Sector - February 2010

It’s finally here – we are officially out of recession! So, are things looking up and have we turned the corner? Well the UK ICT sector is still the largest in Europe (with over one million people employed and contributing an enormous 10% of UK GDP) yet according to UK Trade & Investment it is still expected to grow to over £29 billion by 2012.  Furthermore, PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) reports that at least €15 billion of announced deals are set to complete in the first quarter of 2010. Within the UK, the sector bottom line profitability has been managed effectively for many in 2009, yet achieving high growth has proved more challenging, therefore acquisitions are likely to be an integral part of most corporate growth stories in the foreseeable future.

PwC have also highlighted five ‘hot spots’ for 2010 – Financial Technology, Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), Convergence, Healthcare Software and IT Services (SITS) and Security Solutions.

We have seen a definite increase in activity, with greater competition for sale mandates. This perhaps reflects the growing realisation that cash in the bank could be put to much better work.