She shuffled the papers again and began to set them out across the table, then walked around them, studiously. “They have placed a rather inflated value on their company,” she observed.
“I thought that and I won’t pay what they’re asking for it, but I like things to sit comfortably with me.”
“But how have they reached this valuation?” she asked herself aloud. “The only thing I can’t see here that it could be is confirmation of advance orders, which would affect the valuation, but unless they have confirmed future orders of around half a million they are overvaluing by that amount,” she said seriously.
“No, advance orders are there.” Jon made his way over to her, knowing the information they were discussing was there. He looked through the papers and then clicked on a document on his laptop, “There.”
She studied the information. “Jon, this order for a quarter of a million will never transpire because the company filed for liquidation some time ago, so assuming the others are good, it’s only worth about two hundred and fifty thousand.”
“No fucking way!” he hissed loudly. “How do you know they’ve filed for liquidation?”
“Because they were clients at Bakers, a relatively small company and when I was in corporate accounting one of my colleagues was trying to save their arses, but it was pretty futile,” she said. With a concerned frown she added, “I am sure I shouldn’t have shared that with you.”
“I promise not to tell. Why didn’t Dave and his team check the orders?” he asked sounding cross about it.
She shrugged. “If you want a professional opinion do not pay more than a quarter of a million for the whole company and don’t agree the purchase, not even in principal until your people have gone through it all again, with the finest of tooth combs, every fact and figure they’ve provided you with.”
“I thought they had,” he muttered.
“In my experience if you uncover one lie in accounts there are usually lots of others.” She smiled warily at him. “Hang on,” she whispered with a frown as she shuffled some more papers around, then started tapping away at the computer.
“What?” Jon asked with a frown that became increasingly concerned as Steph’s own face grew more and more troubled.
“This isn’t right . . .” she began as the computer screen filled with search results. “No way! I knew the name was familiar on that other order for two hundred thousand.”
“What? What name?”
“The original company, the one you’re looking at buying had a subsidiary company that they set up in such a way that it ran independently and was apparently unconnected for all intents and purposes. It was set up so that it might support the original company in terms of manufacturing, but if one went bust owing money the other company would be untouchable. I only know this because one of the head accountants at Bakers used it as an example of working within the law but with questionable ethics.”
“Darling, is there a point to this?”
“Sorry, yes. So they’re selling the business to you and its value includes an order from the other company, however, I would put money on that company withdrawing the order after the purchase goes through, meaning the original company has about two hundred thousand pounds of yours and you have nothing.”
“What the fuck has Dave been doing?” Jon asked himself before Steph shrugged again.
“This gets better. The second company with the order . . . it hasn’t traded in any way for about three months and there is another company, another separate one that’s recently been set up. I can find the full details if you want me to . . .”
“No, I’ve heard enough. Thank you.”
“If you want my professional opinion this whole company is worth no more than fifty grand. The original company from about a hundred years ago had a decent name and reputation and it might have been tarnished in recent years, but it might be worth that amount to acquire the brand.”
“I should have brought these over first thing this morning for you to decipher and saved myself a day of going round in circles and I could have prevented the whole situation with Simon.” He frowned again and meant it, but rather than sounding angry, with her or her former boyfriend, Jon simply sounded guilty, as though the injuries she bore were in some way his fault.
“I do think I may have been indiscreet in revealing my professional knowledge of the liquidation of that company and the dodgy nature of the sister company,” Steph said, as much to change the subject as anything else.
He shook his head from the kitchen. “Technically, but those details would have been available to access through the appropriate channels. Channels my people obviously didn’t access.”
“Jon, can I ask you something?”
“Always,” he replied smiling as he pulled plates from the cupboard.
“Do you expect me to share information with you that I gain from work?”
“What sort of information?” He frowned as he drained some pasta.
“Professional information,” she said, thinking she was explaining herself.
“Be more precise, Steph,” he replied adding a tomato sauce to their pasta.
