We Specialize in Advising Mid Market Organizations
Our Focus is on Results, not Reports
Every business faces difficult times.
However when the times get really tough - when the situation gets really bad and all the solutions you used in the past don't seem to be working, then it is time to get help. At JUMP, we can help stabilize your business in tough times, grow your business once it is stable or help you launch and grow a new product line or business unit.
Growth Sometimes a business stagnates or you have a great new product or service idea and need help getting it going. Developing and executing a growth strategy or launching a new product, business unit or similar operation is as much work as running your existing business. At JUMP, we have the expertise, time and resources to help you grow the existing or new business. It is cheaper than hiring a management team upfront. Let us do the preliminary work before you invest in more full time staff.
Stabilize When your business or one of your business units is going through difficult times, we can help stabilize the business and then grow it again.
What does stabilize mean?
Well, tough times have different labels. An accountant may tell you that your business is technically insolvent. Your operations manager has cut staff and every expense he/she can think of but the business is still not profitable and he/she will say you need a turnaround. Your sales people have tried every trick in the book to grow the sales but nothing is working and they tell you it may be time to shut down the business. You have reorganized the various divisions of the company but that is not yielding any positive returns.
To make matters worse, the economy has turned down. During the last recession, your business barely survived even though you were in financially sound at the beginning of that recession. This time, you hit a credit crunch. Customers are stretching their payments and your receivables are growing as the economy softens. You have considered factoring your receivables but your margins are not sufficient to cover the high costs of receivables financing. You have been approached by vulture funds that will take your business for a dollar and leave you high and dry. There seems to be no shortage of charlatans out there!
On top of all this, the creditors are pounding on your door for payment and sending threatening lawyers' letters. Your other shareholders are worried you are going to have to file for CCAA, Chapter 11 or even bankruptcy. You have maxed out your bank lines and the bankers won't give you any more credit until the financial statements show you are profitable. Just getting your financial statements done is a challenge and you are behind on your payments to Canada Revenue Agency or the IRS.
You have tried to find other sources of equity and even thought about selling the company, but who would buy a distressed company? Your best people have resigned. You are burnt out with all the stress and worry from trying to run the business as well as deal with all these business problems. You are worried your suppliers will no longer support you. Your family is worried that you will get sued and lose the business, their main source of wealth and income.
Things are so bad you struggle for words to describe the situation.
At JUMP, we describe the situation as no longer "business as usual." You are not alone - many businesses face this situation, but not often, and so it is not surprising you are not sure what to do or who to turn to. Every decision you make seems to make things worse instead of better. At JUMP, we have guided more than 300 companies through the tough times. We can quickly assess if the business can be stabilized and grown again or whether shareholders would be better off selling the business or, in a few situations, implementing an orderly wind down.
Timing
There isn’t a business that can’t be improved.
There is often only a small window of opportunity to implement a new idea or launch and grow a new business unit before the competition steals the idea and you lose the edge.
In tough times, our biggest regret is that many businesses are too late in asking for our help. There is a very short time frame from the time you enter these difficult times to it being too late to help you and your business.
You need specialists who can guide you through this phase until it is back to "business as usual." This transition could take months and, in some cases, years. At the end of it, the objective is to get the best deal for the shareholders and management.
When the bank wants a meeting
If you are facing tough times, you want to avoid having the bank send in a receiver or trustee in bankruptcy disguised as a monitor or consultant to do a "look see." Once that happens, it is usually "game over" as these professionals make their money liquidating your business. At this stage, the bank wants its money back and is not interested in the shareholders and other creditors.
Range of services
At JUMP, we can advise you on whether a bailout will work; how to refinance a distressed company and help find the financing; provide interim management to control costs in ways your staff have not been trained to do, and; add resources to get the transition work done which is as big a job as running the business. We provide a cheaper and faster alternative to hiring additional managers to do this for you. We have the contacts and the specialists available for only the time they are required, and a vested interest in your success as our returns are based on your success.
Our JUMP business recovery services includes some of the sub groups called crisis management, turnaround services, interim management, refinancing specialists and merger acquisition specialists. We are not receivers or trustees in bankruptcy.
We also provide the following services:
- Assist in the launching of new products and new business units
- Develop strategic plans
- Provide a sounding board on strategic decisions
- Prepare plans for board or lender approval
- Provide a quick look see to identify and prioritize issues
- Analyze and understand profitability including pricing and costing
- Assess business value (not formal business valuations)
- Advise on board governance
- Arrange refinancing
- Package the business and sell it
- Manage the transition and help make the difficult decisions (Chief Restructuring Officer role)
Our name
BRS.JUMP is a division of Morley & Associates Inc. Morley & Associates Inc. was formed in 1989 to assist companies with refinancing and divestives in the tough times of the early 1990's. Since 1996 the firm has added strategic mentoring services expecially for families in business. In 2008 the firm added revenue growth services.
The BRS in BRS.JUMP stands for Business Recovery Services but we like to use the short version JUMP. It is easy to remember and reflects our focus on helping you "Jump Start" your business out of a slump, tough times, or spark further growth.
We work with bankers, investors, management, customers, employees and suppliers to stabilize and/or grow the business. We help find additional financing and provide interim management support.
When will you know if you need us?
- Market changes
- Key changes occurring in the economy or mix of business
- It is no longer business as usual
- Capital limitations
- Security position is deteriorating
- Banks won't provide more credit
- No longer have credibility with lenders/key stakeholders
- Financial limitations
- Inability to achieve budgets
- Deteriorating profitability
- Lack of up to date accurate financial information
- Limitations of the costing system
- Succession planning
- You can't find the right people
- You need to build a team with the present people and structure
- The culture has to change or improve
- Associates will not accept change
Why do you need us?
- Lack of management skills on your team to deal with the changing environment
- Can't grow your way out of the problem
- Need access to additional capital
- Don't have the resources and time to get a deal done
- It is cheaper than receivership