Will enjoys meeting new people in business and understanding the complexities and day to day challenges of early stage business.  Will is primarily focusing on Mint Consult’s sister company, Mint Management Information Systems which will launch in early 2013. As authorised Sage agents, the Mint Group is meeting demand for new products and services which Will is managing.  Will is involved in all aspects of the business including the following:

- Marketing Mint MIS and Sage product portfolio

- Supporting the development of MI systems

- Social media

- Brand development

Location: Babraham, Cambridge

Sector: Medical Device

Date Appointed: June 2012

Services Provided:

DiagNodDiagNodus Ltd (DiagNodus) is a UK-based medical device company focused on commercialising its innovative point-of-care technology platform for the improved diagnosis of colorectal diseases.

DiagNodus appointed Mark Donaldson as Finance Director in June 2012, initially assisting with preparation of presentation material for equity fundraising, financial management and cashflow forecasting, ahead of a £250k funding round being launched.

DiagNodus is executing its plan to develop its first product which will be used in the identification of Inflammatory Bowel Disease and the monitoring of the effectiveness of existing treatments and the disease progression. The Company’s second product will focus on Colorectal Cancer.

Examples of work undertaken for this client, include:

- Assistance with fund raising activities

- Presenting and developing material for presentations

- Cashflow forecasting

- Statutory reporting requirements

- Investor relations

- Dealing with compliance matters for the company

- Providing remote assistance to ad-hoc matters

If you would like more information or to understand more on how Mint Consult can help your business, please contact Mark Donaldson on 01603 516350 or 07940 306900.

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Atlantic Healthcare specialises in the acquisition and commercialisation of drugs meeting unmet medical needs of patients managed in the hospital and specialist care environments in Europe and United States, that fall below a commercial threshold of ‘big pharma’. This sector of the healthcare market continues to grow and is one in which the Management Team of Atlantic has deep industry experience having successfully launched and acquired more than 40 drugs.

Atlantic has previously raised £4.3m of investment from angel investors and family offices to progress and prepare its first product; alicaforsen, a unique drug for the treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD), for full commercialisation.

Mark Donaldson, appointed as the company’s Chief Financial Officer, headed the process announced in November, to raise £500k of expansion capital to take the product into profitability in the second half of 2012.  Some three months later the funding round was oversubscribed and the company had received applications to subscribe for approximately twice the original raise. The additional investment will be used to further accelerate growth internationally.

Atlantic Healthcare appointed Richard Wood as Chairman in 2011, having retired from Genus plc after taking them as CEO from a £30m UK turnover company to a £300m FTSE 250 listed company operating in 30 countries.

If you would like more information on Atlantic Healthcare or to understand more on how Mint Consult can help your business, please contact Mark Donaldson on 0845 8057390 or 07940 306900.

For this edition of the Specialist Edge, we welcome Edward O’Rourke from Ashton KCJ to talk about correctly valuing your business:

“Over the years I have witnessed many business owners fail to sell their businesses because they have latched on to the valuation given to them by their advisers as though it was a statement of fact and not opinion.

Valuing a business is an art and not a science but there are some things a business owner can do to ensure their valuation is fit for its purpose.  These are:

-Determine the purpose for which you require the valuation – There are many reasons why the value of a business may need to be known; a sale; a purchase; a merger; an investment; borrowings/overdraft;  understanding tax consequences of certain decisions; the estate planning of the owners. The valuation in each of these instances will have subtle differences;

-Choose the right professional advisers – The choice of professional may vary depending upon the purpose for which the valuation is required;

-Understand the valuation method used and the reason that method has been chosen – There are numerous ways in which to value businesses and different valuation methods are going to be appropriate for different business types. Knowing the basis used in your business will help you counter arguments that a different valuation method should have been used;

-Consider how you may enhance the value of some assets – Certain assets should be relatively easy to value such as stock, land, machinery and equipment.  However, other assets may be more difficult to value such as goodwill and intellectual property.  However, the value of intellectual property can be greatly enhanced if it is registered.

-Ensure your professional advisers communicate with each other and understand what each is trying to achieve – there is no point having an adviser valuing your business if the lawyer then instructed to assist with its sale does not understand the basis of the valuation.

In reality, when using a valuation you must consider the purpose for which it is being used for and not treat the information provided as gospel. At the end of the day, the only valuation that matters when selling a business is the price the buyer is prepared to pay and the owners are willing to accept.”

Edward O’Rourke
Partner

Location: Cambridge

Sector: Pharmaceutical

Date Appointed: May 2011

Services Provided:

Atlantic Healthcare specialises in the acquisition and commercialisation of drugs meeting unmet medical needs of patients managed in the hospital and specialist care environments in Europe and United States, that fall below a commercial threshold of ‘big pharma’. This sector of the healthcare market continues to grow and is one in which the Management Team of Atlantic Healthcare has significant international experience having successfully launched and acquired more than 40 drugs.

Atlantic Healthcare appointed Mark Donaldson as their Chief Financial Officer in May 2011, initially providing regular management accounts and gaining an understanding of the business model, leading on to the production and management of detailed cashflow forecasts.  More recently James Carter has redesigned the monthly MI Board pack so as to make full use of available technology so as to speed up the production process & ensure consistency.

Atlantic Healthcare has raised £4.3m of investment to date to progress and prepare its first product; alicaforsen, which is a unique drug used to treat Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) for full commercialisation.

With growing revenues, the Company has recently announced its plans to raise £500k of expansion capital to take the product into profitability in the second half of 2012. Mark Donaldson is assisting the company with this through a series of events and profile raising exercises. Mark has assisted with the development of investment material and presentations and is presenting and pitching to potential investors.

Toby Wilson Waterworth, founder and CEO of Atlantic Healthcare said “I am delighted to have Mark and his team on board and the flexible approach and working arrangement which Mint provides, suits the organisation’s size and structure well”.

Examples of work undertaken for this client, include:

- Assistance with fund raising activities

- Presenting and developing material for presentations

- Developed new MI reporting pack to link to Sage Accounts (automating the process)

- Monthly management accounts / Board report

- Maintain detailed cashflow forecasts and projections

- Investor relations

- Dealing with compliance matters for the group

- Providing remote assistance to ad-hoc matters

If you would like more information or to understand more on how Mint Consult can help your business, please contact Mark Donaldson on 0845 8057390 or 07940 306900.

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Location: Norfolk

Sector: Engineering

Date appointed: April 2011

Background:

Active Technologies has been involved in a number of designs that have gone on to be patented, demonstrating their innovating capabilities in new concepts through to improving existing products.

In today’s world innovation is the key factor in staying ahead of your competitors and they often provide a fresh design solution for their customers.

They provide a broad range of services to a broad range of clients that covers everything from individuals to the largest multi-national corporations. This broad offering means that they can deal with just about any engineering project that comes their way.

Their business is essentially problem-solving and this applies equally to their consultancy services and their product design and development.

Services Provided:

- Designed bespoke Sage report overlaid with an Excel report to interrogate cost and project information on the company’s work in progress system.

- Provided conversion assistance on conversion of the report when Sage upgraded.

- Project was planned on-site with much of the work being carried out at our own office, with face to face delivery of the end product.

If you would like more information or to understand more on how Mint Consult can help your business, please contact Mark Donaldson on 0845 8057390 or 07940 306900.

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Sector: Manufacturing

Date Appointed: March 2002

Website: www.allenandpage.com

Services Provided:

Allen & Page was established as a limited company in 1936 but the Page family had been producing and selling horse feeds for many years. Originally based at the mill at Quayside, Norwich, the company quickly became renowned across East Anglia for the high quality feed it produced.

Allen & Page strives to constantly innovate and improve and part of that process involved moving the business to its current state of the art mill in Shipdham, Norfolk. The new mill provided the company with the technology to produce animal feed that was more natural, wholesome and environmentally friendly than the market standard, an ethos that continues to this day. More than two decades ago Allen & Page gained the accreditation of many major food production and quality control bodies, including the Vegetarian Society, Soil Association and ISO organisations. This set a standard for the company to continue working closely with these bodies to ensure the highest quality feed is produced.

Still a family business, Allen & Page has developed and grown, with over four generations of experience helping to build the business into the major national feed producer it is today. In 2009, Allen & Page was delighted to receive a Royal Warrant from HRH The Prince of Wales. Looking to the future, Allen & Page is always investigating new ways to improve and innovate; drawing on the experience and knowledge gained from almost a century of making horse feed.

Mark Donaldson has been working with the business since 2002, initially as an interim Company Accountant and more recently as a part time Finance Director.  He has been involved with many projects and aspects of the business from operational to strategic aspects.

James Carter has more recently been involved with the design of a sales reporting tool to bridge two reporting systems and combine into a meaningful, easy to generate report, which is now run by the in-house team.

Ben Page commented “Mark is a highly valued member of the team with a broad depth of experience with useful and innovative thought processes”

Examples of work undertaken for this client, include:

-       Developed departmental reporting

-       Implemented KPI’s for critical business functions

-       Responsible for management reporting (MI) to the Board

-       Design and implementation of reporting framework

-       Dealing with routine compliance matters

-       Liaising with auditors, preparing details files for review

If you would like more information or to understand more on how Mint Consult can help your business, please contact Mark Donaldson on 0845 8057390 or 07940 306900.

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Services Provided

- Set up MI system to track spend and report against budget.

- Developed budget with management team.

- Regular budget meetings with software developers and the project manager.

- Compliance matters with Charity Commission & HMRC.

Date Appointed: April 2010

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Sector: Agriculture

Location: East of England

Date Appointed: November 2011

Services Provided:

- Obtained understanding of the new business and the components and complexities involved.

- Liaised with external organisation preparing day to day accounts and developed import routine for monthly data provided into our clients Sage accounts.

- Developed chart of accounts.

- Planned and co-ordinated new MI pack development.

- Automated extraction of data from Sage into MI pack.

Date Appointed: November 2011

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Sector:  Aviation

Location: UK

Date appointed: January 2010

Services Provided:

- Redesigned accounting platform and structure to capture transactions.

- Developed new monthly MI packs to extract data direct from accounting system.

- Responsible for maintaining and co-ordinating the annual budget.

- Liaised with auditors, preparing detailed files for review.

- Delivered quarterly accounts to the Board.

If you would like more information or to understand more on how Mint Consult can help your business, please contact Mark Donaldson on 0845 8057390 or 07940 306900.

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