Valuing a business

[PGBrew]

Hi Alexlg,

Do yourself a favour, unless your a ltd co. run your business to the end of march, then do your tax return for year 14/15 to be submitted by Jan 16. I did a 15 month year for my first return. much easier for tax returns if you are a sole trader.

Pete

[PabloV8]

Hi Alex,

I started about a month after you so probably have a very similar sized vending round.

It always tickles me when people who have been doing this business for longer than you or I , band about these magical figures of turn-over. Sure I have some sites turning over 150 a month, but that is sales, so make nowhere near what is being suggested.

Perhaps, the emphasis is to degrade what we do in relation to sales with the hope that we become demoralized and sell the business or sites for peanuts!



Hang in with what you have, I am sure your sales are better than most

I do not have a net profit as such as all profits are ploughed back in so that I can expand.

Happy munching

[part-time-operator]

Pablo reason is that the people who've been doing it longer have got all the good sites....

[PabloV8]

That is a valid point, did not think of that!

The way the script was going I was of the opinion that seasoned operators had 300/400/500 sites and could manage sites better I.e. Could service said sites every 1/2/3 months whereas, us newbies probably do visit our sites more frequent as we do not have as many machines/sites.

Happy munching,

Pablo

[Style]

Its not just about the number of machines. Its getting the visits at the right time, I try and turn up when I expect them to have taken £50, this can be weekly or 3 monthly.
Saturation helps, if your machines are 1/2 to 1 mile apart you can visit a lot more in a day than if your have to travel 10 miles. Keeping your costs down helps, charity is cheaper than commission but the sites aren't as secure. So for me, if its a pub, club etc I go commission but have a lot of offices etc on charity.
Some of my most profitable sites are businesses where ive got a sweet tower in on charity then when Ive discovered its a good site I add a Pringles tower in as a service only. No commission or charity on that. Ive got 5/6 of these my best one phones me every 7/10 days and I take £50/60 each visit from it.
Multi machines, if you can site a sweet tower, Pringles and a toy machine together in a decent pub or club you may end up visiting weekly or fortnightly but you can take £3/400 a month.
Lastly its the best sites, there is still some cream out there. I know of 4 play barns within 15 miles of me without toy machines, each one of them would take £400 a month. They just need convincing.
Im operating around 260 machines, I don't want anymore but I'm always looking for new ones so that I can pull my poor performers.
Andy

[alexlg]

Do yourself a favour, unless your a ltd co. run your business to the end of march, then do your tax return for year 14/15 to be submitted by Jan 16. I did a 15 month year for my first return. much easier for tax returns if you are a sole trader

Hi Pete - can I pm you and maybe speak to you on the phone just after Christmas? I've got to do my first tax return (which covers this business - not my first ever SA tax return - but I only did Avon and rented out my flat, in the past, so much simpler) by the end of Jan 2015 and I can't quite get my head around some little things. I went to an accountant at the beginning of the year and rapidly gleaned that his fees were not worth it for a business my size. I'm very good and always very up-to-date with recording every penny I spend and earn - its just a question of knowing how to present it for my tax return. I know about expenses and my car allowance and I am not a limited company. I started trading as a vendor in July 2013 and I am now looking at doing my tax return for the April 13- March 14. But the accountant said something about my first vending accounts being for at least 12 months, preferably more. And I can't quite get my head round that. There are probably other things too!
Thanks,
Alex