‘Where are they now?’ – Nick Ball

April 27, 2022

As part of our 10 year anniversary series ‘Where are they now?’, we decided to interview ex-client Nick Ball, Managing Director at Impact Air Systems. We chat to Nick about why he chose to work with Bluebox, what advice he would give to business owners looking to sell, and what he is up to now.

 

Can you give us a brief description about the business and your involvement before selling?

Impact Air Systems provide air-based systems to move and separate dry waste materials directly from production machinery or within the recycling process. They also provide systems to reduce the risk from potentially harmful airborne contaminants in dust, fume, etc.

Impact Technical Services provide the service and maintenance of the above systems and local exhaust ventilation (LEV) testing to ensure LEV systems are performing effectively.

I had worked my way up from office junior through project manager, sales manager, general manager and then owner and MD when we bought the business in 2007 when the original owner retired.

 

What were the highs and lows of the sale process for you?

The highs were the purchaser seeing the value in what had been established and the future of the business and then obviously then seeing the value in real terms.  The lows were keeping it from people who you trust and work with every day whilst trying to continue to work as normal and the considerable amount of time and energy required to provide all of the information required during the due diligence stage.

 

Why did you choose Bluebox to assist with the process and how did we help?

We were initially introduced by our accountant but quickly realised the benefit that Bluebox provided based on their wealth of experience.  They made everything seem simple but realistic, very quickly understood the intricacies of our business, especially from a financial point of view and knew how to get the best deal for us.

 

What has happened to the business since selling?

In a nice way, very little has changed, although we have new shareholders we are left to continue to run the business exactly as we did before.  We have to do a lot more financial reporting but we have slowly got to grips with that.  We have a renewed confidence in the potential for the future with greater financial support.

 

What advice do you have for business owners contemplating a sale exercise?

Be clear on why you are doing it and where you stand after it and be prepared for a pretty intense process that consumes a lot of your time and energy.

 

How has your life changed since selling the business?

On a day to day basis my life has not changed at all as we are still running the business.  I have had to adjust to having people that I am answerable to and change the way we do our finances.  The main difference is not having the constant worry of where the work is coming from, key staff leaving and the overwhelming responsibility of it all.  On a personal level, I also have a great sense of comfort knowing that my family will be financially secure for a long time and satisfaction in knowing that we have been able to realise the benefit of 15 years of hard work.

 

What are you doing now?

Exactly what I was before but keeping a closer eye on personal investments and sleeping a bit better!

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