Looking into offering a stake in my low value man with van business - should any money be involved.

[mclaren7500]

Helo everyone on the forum. I have posted on here before and got some very good advice and hoping to do so again. I am 60 years old and run a couple of business's. One of them is a light removals company which I have operated for 25 years (11 years as a limited company). The company is largely debt free with just a low interest bounce back loan to pay off circa £4,500 and a small corporation tax bill to settle which I hoping to clear with my next filing at the end of the year. There is nearly £8,000 balance in the account so the company is solvent. The downside is that I don't do much with it anymore and so it only brings in between £25- £30K a year. The last year just finished was £32K to the end of March 2025. There really is no profit to speak of and generally I make circa £8K - £12K most years with a few taxable benefits such as use of home as an office.

Despite all this I have a bit of interest on two aspects of my business. My SEO company is interested in purchasing my website for a small fee as they think it has a decent rank and domain authority and they can utilise that with their other campaigns. They would not change the website enquiries links and the telephone numbers so that I can still get work and because they own the site they would be able to put in a lot more SEO than is currently carried out. This offer if accepted would give me a small fee and the ability to carry on working until I am ready to pack it in completely.

The second development has been another removal company who I have been helping out with off and on for the last couple of years who is interested in taking a stake in The Man With Van Network. They are a growing concern with a £350K turnover in the last 12 months. No money has been discussed but the way it has been put across is that it would be a mutally beneficial deal where both parties would get something out of it.

I am in very good health for my age and see no reason why I can't continue working until retirement age so I am not looking to walk away. Any advice on how to approach these two oppotunities would be gratefully received.

 

[Ozzy]

Hi @mclaren7500 ;
On face value of what you have written above, I'd be more inclined to pursue the second development with a view to exit. Just my thoughts as I do tend to look for the exit in these things.
I'd have concerns with the SEO angle, as I'd be worried the SEO company would turn the site into link farm which would ultimately kill the site and you be left with nothing.

So, yes the second option, and I'd be wanting to know the long term exit direction. I do not envisage you getting much from it, the business isn't worth much (sorry) but something is something!

 

[Gecko001]

"Man with a van", is a very catchy name and I can see why a potential buyer would be interested in the website, but doesn't the name limit the scalability of the business?

 

[Mark T Jones]

Without facts & numbers it's very hard to say.

However I do feel that synergy is always an advantage, and the second proposal offers far more of that than the first.

The devil's always in the detail - whichever way you go, be sure that you fully understand what is on offer and what is expected from the outset.

A third potential option is an earn-in - where you take on an enthusiastic younger person to develop and gradually run the business whilst eaning shares against agreed targets & benchmarks.

Whilst you aren't in the M & A league, good financial & legal advice is important.

 

[JEREMY HAWKE]

When you start to see the figures of the second option I think you will probably be disappointed.

If you dont want to walk away what are the possibilities of you expanding the current removals company