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Holiday Experts
Business Angels help holiday firm double turnover
An investment from a Northwest Business Angel has helped a Cheshire holiday company double its turnover and expand into new offices.
Holiday Experts is an Internet-based travel company based in the Northwest. While most travel agents use either a high street retail presence or a call centre based operation, Holiday Experts takes a novel approach and uses a home working system, in which all sales staff work from home and sales are generated through the Internet and recommendations.
It is an approach which enables the company to operate a service from 8am to 10pm, seven days a week. In addition, it allows it to manage the booking process so that customers speak to agents who are knowledgeable about the destination regions and can provide useful information about the resorts and hotels.
The company was formed over three years ago and expanded rapidly, achieving a turnover of £10 million within 14 months of trading. Around that time managing director Mike Russell realised he needed an injection of £300,000 to fund the company's continued growth and development.
He wanted to buy new premises for their head offices, to re-develop the web site, to recruit additional sales and administration staff, to invest in a state-of-the art telephony system and to step-up the company's marketing activity.
Russell was unable to borrow from a high street lender because his was a new business and because of the low security associated with the travel industry. As he says, "banks are just not interested in unsecured start-ups in the holiday industry."
Instead, he approached Northwest Business Angels. After making some initial enquiries, he decided to join the scheme and make a formal proposal for investment.
He says the application process was quick and straightforward: "I can't praise it highly enough. The process worked extremely well and there was no unnecessary bureaucracy."
As Russell already had an up-to-date business plan, all he had to do was tailor it to the business angels audience. He then had to prepare a 10-minute presentation to put forward his investment proposal at the next monthly Northwest Business Angels meeting.
He was contacted by a dedicated Northwest Business Angels consultant who helped with refining the business plan and putting the proposal together. Together they tweaked his presentation and had a half-day rehearsal, before Russell spoke in front of around 60 investors at the next meeting. Several of the business angels were interested, and within a week of the presentation, Russell had an offer, which he accepted.
Thanks to the support of Northwest Business Angels, Holiday Experts' turnover has since doubled to nearly £20 million and it has bought new premises for its offices. The company now employs around 75 staff.
Russell says, "I think the business angels scheme represents excellent value for money. If I'd gone to a traditional venture capital investor, the cost both in terms of direct fees and consultants' charges would have been up to four or five times higher. I wouldn't hesitate to recommend Northwest Business Angels to other business owners looking for investment.
