Plimsoll

Three different types of acquisition in a post-COVID world

During the summer months, mention of Christmas and the holiday season may be the furthest thing from consumer thinking, but for the world’s leading toy companies, it becomes their sole focus. In 2021, planning for the all-important final quarter is being hamstrung by a unique set of circumstances that could lead to shortages and sharp price hikes of famous brands from Barbie to Play-Doh.

The country has sweltered in July as summer 2021 arrived in full force and even Northern Ireland saw temperatures break records. With August forecast to see a second, even warmer plume of thermometer-busting heat, it is the ideal time to look at the state of play in industries that benefit the most from these periods of un-British summer weather.

Companies have learned two main lessons from the pandemic. Firstly, how to prosper with staff working outside the office for the first time. Secondly, how to utilize the revolution in working patterns, and other changes accelerated by COVID-19, to maintain better cost controls.

Budgeting for 2021 is going to be a different experience for all business leaders as we continue to sail through these choppy waters. Whether it is the virus, Brexit or an internal malady, planning for the coming 12 months has so many caveats and subplots this year, budgeting is going to remain fluid throughout next year.

The industry you operate in appears to be the overriding factor in determining whether your valuation is likely to be increasing or declining in 2022. New research from Plimsoll confirms that market conditions continue to exert an outsized influence on business values.

It’s official. The UK economy is in recession and by all estimates it is going to be the biggest on record. We have yet to see the full extent of the damage the pandemic has inflicted on UK businesses, but who wants to read another tale of woe?

“Crisis” seems to be an overly prevalent theme across many parts of the UK economy even as the worst of the pandemic disruption seems behind us. While the lockdowns of early 2020 felt existential but likely to abate if we could get back to ‘normal’, the issues that have arisen since seem more entrenched and longer-lasting.  

With the explosion of African Swine Fever across Asia ravaging the Chinese pig population, the price UK pork exporters are commanding for their produce into China has rocketed…. but it is having a devastating knock on effect on the UK Sausage market.