What can I say about 2020? 

It is certainly the year that keeps on giving for its craziness and uncertain outlook but still generates plenty of opportunity. 

As well as the impact of the second wave, and second Lockdown, as we approach the end of the year we reach the conclusion of the Brexit negotiations and it will take a better mind than mine to be able to predict what that will mean. 

The good news is that it looks like the white knight of a vaccine is appearing on the horizon.

The only certainty is uncertainty, but uncertainty creates certainty of opportunity. For ourselves that is being reflected, and we forecast future growth, in both our Restructuring and Insolvency work and also our Asset Based Lending valuation opportunities.

Since our last newsletter, you will have seen some of our sector updates, which we will continue to release on a regular basis. Our business has continued to grow and develop and we continue to recruit new people into our team. More announcements will follow but I would like to introduce Ed Cloke and Connor Mills, who have joined in recent months to strengthen our our property and auctions teams respectively.

We have also decided to rebrand our division name to one that better reflects what we do. Rather than Machinery and Business Assets, we will now be called Asset Advisory. Our core strands remain the same but as a reminder:

1. Restructuring and Insolvency – working with the IP community, across all assets classes to undertake valuations, asset and business sales.
2. LPA Receivership – insolvency services for property assets.
3. Asset Based Lending – providing all asset class valuations for lenders, advisors and private equity.
4. Business Sales
5. Property Debt Advisory

Whilst the introduction of the Covid tiering structures is leading to different restrictions in different areas in the country we continue to provide site visits in all cases, where it is safe to do so.

We have been particularly busy with our auctions throughout the Summer and Autumn, with some very good results, generally at, or above, original pre-Covid expectations. We have seen some tightening of cash availability in the last few weeks, so we will see if this is a shift in the market , or not, in the coming weeks. If you would like views on our experiences please do pick up the phone to your local contact as we will always be pleased to talk with you about what you can expect on the jobs you are involved in.

Below each of our Regional and Service Line Heads will give an update on what they are seeing in the market and we will highlight some of the work we have been involved in recently.

These remain challenging times, but with lots of opportunity and we expect to see continued strong demand and growth across all our service lines, which I am sure you do too for your own services. We have an exceptional team and we look forward to working with you in the coming months.

London & South

Whilst in overall terms the insolvency market is said to be down year on year against 2019, the London & South team have continued to busy throughout the Autumn period.

Our work is a mixture of high profile valuation and disposal instructions, as well as smaller instructions. All are important to us to ensure we support all the needs of our Clients.

Instructions cover property and machinery & equipment, as well as business sales, across a variety of sectors.

Read more >

South West & Wales

The region has seen an incredibly busy end to the Autumn and progressing into the winter. Despite the Pandemic, we have continued to be active in the market including various valuations and asset disposals.

Read more >

Midlands & North

The newly merged 'North and Midlands' regions combine the valuation expertise and market knowledge of the two regions to provide an enhanced service offering to our clients across both regions. 

Read more >

Property Debt Advisory

Despite the difficulties of the last few months and with experience now on our side, the team have been busy offering a range of advice to lenders and businesses as well as accepting instructions over new properties.

Read more >

Asset Based Lending (ABL)

Over the last 4 months since our last Newsletter, we have continued to be very busy. We returned to site visits quickly after lockdown eased and so in that regard it was business as usual.

Read more >

All the best for Christmas and 2021!