NOVUS ADDS UP FOR INDEPENDENT SCHOOL
An entrepreneurial principal and proprietor of an independent school realises her dreams to grow by securing circa £ 550k of bank financing.
As for many entrepreneurs and business owners, the possibility of realising their dreams often requires additional skills and experience together with funding. Having successfully established two nursery schools, an entrepreneurial Principal and Proprietor could see an excellent opportunity to grow her business by opening a prepreparatory and preparatory school for her nursery children to move on to. Unfortunately, as for many start-up businesses, her attempts to raise the necessary funding from high-street lenders was unsuccessful. Her accountants introduced her to Novus who provided an equity investment with another start-up lender providing the necessary loan funding to open the school.
As an invested partner, Novus then supported and worked with the Principal to develop and prove the validity of the school’ s business model. To ensure the school had good financial controls and management from which to build the business, one of the Novus partners Adrian Wheeler, provided a part-time CFO role for the school. Entrusting the financial management to Adrian certainly reduced some of the business pressures on the Principal, especially when it came to managing cash flow.
Three years after opening, the new school could demonstrate good underlying revenue from which Novus produced a sustainable and profitable business plan. The plan enabled Novus to lead negotiations on behalf of the school and successfully secure £ 550k finance facility through HSBC. Importantly the HSBC financing replaced some more expensive business financing and therefore better prepared the school for the next stage of growth.
“ I have been extremely impressed with the work and dedication of Novus Investments. Their speed, knowledge and experience is very impressive and the dedication to my school has always been carried out with the utmost professionalism and attention to detail.”
Principal / Proprietor
The market for most businesses is continually changing and therefore it is important for businesses to review and refine their objectives and strategies on a regular basis. Due primarily to changes in the economy, pupil numbers at the school came under pressure. As an invested partner, Novus provided through its partner Clive Gunther, the experience expertise to review and refine their sales and marketing strategy.
Starting with an in-depth competitor analysis of
surrounding schools, Novus then refined the market position and value proposition for school. The brand and marketing was then developed to reflect the repositioning and the sales team retrained to the new proposition. Consequently, nursery and preparatory school pupil numbers rose by 47 % and 18 % respectively.
“ My time with Novus has enabled me to acquire a new way of thinking and helped to develop my new skills. By physically taking time out from day to day operations, it has focused our thinking and given us the time to make improvements to both our processes and our customer service. I have no doubt that this will have a knock-on effect to improved sales figures moving forward. Thank you Novus!”
Head of Admissions
0118 347 458 info @ novusinvestments. co. uk
NEW YEAR NEW LOOK- MEET PURPLE LIME WITH A FRESH APPROACH TO ACCOUNTANCY
As 2018 arrives, the team at Purple Lime are ready to help small and medium sized businesses in Wiltshire and the South West face the future with optimism.
It was just over a year ago that co-founders Angela Ashworth and Oli Thomas came together to set up a new business – based at Hartham Park in Corsham – offering ambitious businesses an outsourced, flexible finance department using Xero cloud technology.
They brought with them decades of experience in accountancy, financial management, payroll, VAT returns, bookkeeping, tax compliance and anything to do with the financial health of a business. Oli had been with an accountancy practice in Bath for ten years and Angela had worked for several years as a consultant to small businesses, supporting them to move over to online accounting.
Both had a passion to create a new and fresh approach to the traditionally backward-looking world of numbers and finance – where an ability to move quickly and respond in real time was almost impossible using traditional accountancy methods.
Oli said:“ One of our little lines is‘ year end is so last year.’ We want to work closely with each client to help them streamline their processes, train them on any technology and then provide the business owners and directors with live data and information, tailored to their needs.”
Angela said:“ Some people want a quarterly review from their accountancy firm and nothing else, others want a detailed monthly management pack with executive summary and attendance at board meetings.
“ Other businesses have a book-keeper and an accountant and the company doesn’ t have the live data. They may find they want to get extra investment and they just don’ t have easy access to the necessary information to start the process. We plug that gap with accurate information when it’ s needed there and then.”
After building the business in the early months- originally under the name Hartham Financial – Oli and Angela worked tirelessly behind the scenes to put in place the procedures and processes to really offer the kind of flexible services their clients want in a digital age. They do this by working with the online accountancy software company Xero – and they have recently become a Silver partner.
Now they have been joined by accounting technician Sarah Henson and the company has been re-branded as Purple Lime.
Oli said:“ It’ s been an amazing year after we both took the decision to set up in business together. We have taken our time, put Xero at the centre of our brand and chosen a name we believe captures what we offer – a vibrant and fresh approach to accountancy.”
“ I’ m very proud of what we’ ve achieved and the relationships we’ ve already developed with our clients. We aim to take on more staff this year as well as grow our business in an organic and strategic manner,” Angela said.
Purple Lime’ s clients include Interactive Scientific of Bristol, Exxus Energy of London, Dan Preece, a local farrier and Corsham Institute.
For more info: www. purplelime. uk. com
16 THE BUSINESS EXCHANGE 2017