BizSale Small Business Blog. Small businesses for sale.

Give us a Break: that's what the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB) is urging the government in light of proposals to change the tax rules on furnished holiday lettings.

Under the changes, eight in ten small firms in the holiday sector could go bust, the FSB says. And all because taking away their tax breaks is likely to force job losses, stifle trade and cost the tourism industry millions.

As the situation stands, furnished holiday lettings must be available to rent for at least 20 weeks of the year and rented out for ten. This gives the owners of self-catering properties a variety of tax breaks.

But the government's proposed changes would mean such firms are assessed as residential landlords rather than trading businesses. Over half of holiday lettings owners polled by the FSB said they'd be forced to lay off staff as a result and 81 per cent admitted their "financial viability" would be affected.

FSB national chairman John Wright commented: "Small firms know they are crucial to pulling the economy out of recession and on to the road to recovery, but they need the government to create a tax-friendly environment to do so."

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Pub and hotel owner Thwaites – recognisable to most as the brains behind the Lancaster Bomber and Nutty Black ales – has put up eight pubs for sale.

But the brewery giant has been criticised for specifying that prospective buyers of the East Lancashire outlets cannot continue to run them as pubs. The company's pubs for sale include Padiham's Victoria Hotel, Accrington's Adelphi and the Sportsman’s Arms in Blackburn.

The Campaign for Real Ale says local entrepreneurs "should at least be given the opportunity" to make a success of the pubs.

But Licensed Victuallers' Association representative Geoff Sutcliffe, himself the landlord of Blackburn's Rising Sun, told the Lancashire Telegraph a lot of the pubs for sale are in areas "that would not be viable anyway".

"I think we have got to be realistic about this," he added. "This is a business decision. Thwaites would not sell a pub if it was viable."

The practice of placing restrictions on the future of pubs for sale was slammed by MPs earlier this year, leading Punch Taverns and Enterprise Inns to scrap it. The latter, Britain’s second biggest pub operator, has put up nearly 400 underperforming pubs for sale in the past year.

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More corporate insolvencies are the last thing the small business world wants to see, so what are company owners doing to keep bankruptcy from their doors? They're working 65 hours a week in some cases, that's what.

Number crunchers at Abbey and Alliance & Leicester Business Banking have been looking into the lengths small-firm owners are going to in a bid to keep their businesses afloat. And it turns out one in six are reaching the 65-hour mark most weeks.

Overall, just over a third agree they're putting in longer hours than they were a year ago, with the average boss clocking up 47 hours per week. That's just an hour below the European Working Time Directive's maximum.

Abbey and Alliance & Leicester's Paula Ickinger notes the dire effect the phenomenon is having on the work-life balance of business bosses: "Not only do business owners have a very tough economic climate to contend with, they've also been burdened with mounting piles of red tape and bureaucracy at the same time, which can distract them from the running of their business."

They need as much help as they can get, she concludes – not least from their business banks.

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From Enterprise Tsar to small-screen Dragon: there must be something in the air prompting familiar faces to throw their two cents' worth on small businesses' finance woes into the ring.

After The Apprentice star Lord Alan Sugar was pilloried for deeming struggling small-firm owners "moaners", fellow entrepreneur Duncan Bannatyne has spoken out in support of the very same recession-hit demographic.

There should be better and easier access to business credit cards and bank accounts, he's declared, as Britain's smaller companies attempt to stay afloat.

Dragons' Den star Bannatyne knows what it feels like to face uncertainty, is the thing. As he reveals in the Telegraph, he once had to borrow £30,000 on three personal credit cards – as well as selling his house and car – because of difficulties raising finance for his fledgling enterprise.

Now the successful (multi-millionaire) founder and chairman of Bannatyne Fitness, he nonetheless understands that, to most small business owners, banks seem intent on making life particularly difficult – even as many of them report "bumper profits".

"Banks could do more to help small businesses and their employees who will be seeking assurances over the festive period," he concludes.

Do you hear that, bank bosses?

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Interesting figures to emerge from the Las Vegas of Lancashire this week: despite a healthy tourism season, Blackpool now has guest houses, self-catering apartments and hotels for sale to the tune of £72 million.

Number-crunchers say 300 holiday accommodation outlets have gone on the market in the last 12 months alone, but shifting them is proving a problem for landlords in the amusement-park mecca.

Step back two years and the total cost of guest houses and hotels for sale in the resort stood around the £55 million mark. And where are those in the property know pointing the blame?

Why, the banks of course – the surge in the overall cost of hotels for sale along the Golden Mile would appear to be down to lenders' reluctance to give buyers a leg up the holiday accommodation ladder.

"I don't think I have seen through a single hotel sale in the past few months," Paul Crossley – managing director at Kenricks Commercial Property – tells the Blackpool Gazette. "There are potential buyers with cash out there but it doesn't matter how good the deposit is, the banks don't want to lend."

So there you have it – a backlog in Blackpool hotels for sale that ranges from small six-bedroom guest houses to bigger hotels boasting 40 rooms or more. Watch this space for updates …

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News of a pub sale with a difference reaches us this week, after two residents of a tiny Herefordshire village stepped in to stop their much-loved local falling into the hands of property developers.

Leintwardine's Sun Inn, one of the nation's last parlour pubs, was being put up for sale at auction until local businessmen Gary Seymour and Nick Davis came along with their offer after rallying around to raise the necessary finance. Though the sum they paid for the pub remains under wraps, we do know it was expected to fetch up to £300,000 from eager bidders.

The tale of the Sun Inn pub sale began when owner Florence 'Flossie' Lane – said to be Britain's oldest landlady, aged 94 – passed away in June after 74 years at the helm.

A "Save the Sun" crusade was launched by villagers and backed by the Campaign for Real Ale, whose representatives describe the pub as "a national treasure".

The 200-year-old establishment doesn't have the bar or counter familiar to seasoned pub-goers. More like an old-fashioned living room, customers serve themselves from barrels on the floor and deposit their cash in a jam jar.

Its new owners – one of whom runs a chip shop next door to the pub, and the other a brewery – say they don't plan to change much about the Sun Inn, focusing instead on promoting local beers and ciders.

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He left struggling small-business owners picking their jaws up off the floor when he called them "moaners" earlier this week, but so-called Enterprise Tsar Lord Alan Sugar still has the backing of the prime minister.

The national council of the 215,000-strong Federation of Small Businesses called for Sugar to be replaced by "someone with more understanding and empathy for the small business sector" after the comments, made at a finance-themed conference in Manchester.

According to The Apprentice star, famed for his "You're fired" catchphrase, ironically enough, 85 per cent of small firms applying for bank loans at the moment do not deserve to be given any cash – and most would be better off receiving bankruptcy advice.

Referring to the "irresponsible manner" in which banks lent to firms before the recession, he remarked to his audience: "Let me tell you … you have lived in the unrealistic Disneyworld in the way banks dished out money."

The former Amstrad boss continued: "I can honestly say a lot of problems you hear from people who are moaning are from companies I wouldn't lend a penny to … they are bust, the moaners are bust."

Gordon Brown has dismissed any criticism of Sugar and maintains he has full confidence in his new "enterprise champion".

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Using the services of professional valuers will go some way towards ensuring you don't pay more than necessary when buying a business. That, and taking a thorough look at stock levels, customer traffic and the books of account for tax returns.

Because it's illegal to under-report tax returns to the authorities, submitting the wrong figures after buying a business will attract penalties, notes business consultancy boss Joseph Kirubi, who's been having a look at the advantages of buying a business over starting one from scratch.

Acquiring "a tried and tested formula" is preferable, he reckons, since the only challenge you face is polishing the venture before you. Unless a business has been put on the market because of poor sales, of course.

"The prospective new owner should find out if the reason the seller is leaving the business is uncooperative staff, because this can confront the one coming in," he adds to Business Daily. Such a situation can be counteracted if workers are psychologically prepared for impending change, he suggests.

On the subject of proper valuations, he concludes that it's not just tangible assets like furniture, fixtures and IT equipment that should be accounted for, but also "intangibles" such as goodwill, whose calculation keeps changing. In accounting speak, that refers to what is paid for a business above its book value (in case you were wondering), and is usually on a "willing buyer-willing seller basis".

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