“How’s business?” It’s a universal greeting among operators before conversation then turns to other matters.
It’s a simple question that can hide complex answers. It depends which business you are in – coach, bus or both – and in which sectors you operate. Perhaps it’s schools, contracts, private hire, holidays, National Express, day excursions, or all of them.
Indeed, the wise operator finds that a basket of work means that when one sector is waning, another is on the up. The old adage of not keeping all your eggs in one basket has never been truer in the current economic climate, where predictions can be little more than guesses.
But while operators might grumble, most are optimistic. It is this optimism – that things will be better – that is the difference between business entrepreneurs and employees.
Yet, distressingly, we hear of operators keen to sell their business, but struggling to find buyers. The reason, sadly, is often the same: i.e. that how a potential buyer sees the business is fundamentally different to the vendors’ view.
On paper, it may look great. But sitting on a theoretical mountain of assets doesn’t always translate to the real world, as operators discover when they come to trade in a coach. Its book value is much higher than its market value.
Nobody sets out to be a ‘busy fool’, but once in a while, a close look at your books won’t do you any harm.
