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Business Focus >>

The new manufacturers The new manufacturers

A great British renaissance has been taking place. From Aberdeen to the West Country, the zing is back in manufacturing. It’s about time this spectacular story was told.

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Pack a punch with your bank

by Kate Pritchard - Monday, 10th September 2007 -

Pack a punch with your bank

Grant Bovey, best known as the husband of television presenter Anthea Turner, had a slightly unusual problem when he approached banks for start-up funding for Imagine Homes, the buy-to-let property company that he built from scratch in 2003.

“Three of the banks couldn’t care less about the business. They just wanted to know about my charity boxing match with Ricky Gervais [screened on BBC Two's celebrity boxing programme, The Fight, in 2002].

“They clearly had no intention of lending me any money – they just thought it would be entertaining to spend an hour chatting to me.”

Bovey eventually secured around £12m in debt financing from HBOS – the sixth bank he spoke to – and put up £1m of his own cash.

He used the funds to buy 22 apartments in a development called Kew Riverside – which he sold just eight weeks later.

Four years on, Imagine Homes is now worth a whopping £200m and Bovey is planning on floating the business on the London Stock Exchange.

Bovey has the following advice for other entrepreneurs: “You have to be honest with your bank – they hate surprises.

“Don’t make your business plan too optimistic because it will only bite you in the bum as the months unfold. Just be honest.

"Win their respect, win their trust, and if it’s a good, solid idea then there’s an even chance they might back you.”

Read the full interview with Grant Bovey – and his gruesome defeat by Ricky Gervais – in the November edition of Real Business magazine.

BUSINESS NEWS >>

Grass Roots entrepreneur receives an MBE for social responsibility

By Kate Pritchard - July 03, 2008 5:24pm GMT

David Evans set up Herfordshire-based performance improvement firm Grass Roots in the eighties. Today, he turns over a whopping £247m, employs over 1,000 people and has just become one of only three people in the country to receive an MBE for services to CSR.

Foresight invests in Silvigen

By Real Deals & Real Business - July 03, 2008 3:45pm GMT

Silvigen, a supplier of biomass fuels for use in the power industry, will use £1.75m from Foresight to finance the development of a processing plant in Goole, North Humberside.

Countdown to Human Capital Awards

By Catherine Woods - July 03, 2008 3:38pm GMT

At last year’s CBI/Real Business Human Capital Awards, prison administrator Vicky O’Dea was crowned the ‘people’s champion’.

Farmer focuses on versatile local product

By Catherine Woods - July 03, 2008 3:10pm GMT

Farmer Andy Fussel has turned a low-value crop into a product that appeals to those who want to lower their carbon footprint, the health conscious and even Michelin-star chefs.

Nine ways to grow your business through franchising

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - July 03, 2008 2:28pm GMT

Brian Duckett, MD of Howarth Franchising, gives his top tips on franchising your business.

Brochures on Saving and investing

BUSINESS COMMENT >>

Lee McQueen pulls a sickie

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - July 02, 2008 2:55pm GMT

First day on the job and Apprentice winner McQueen has been struck down by a flu-like virus.

Look out Boris! Sir Alan for Mayor?!

By Ally Papasodaro - June 27, 2008 4:10pm GMT

Sir Alan Sugar has been mooted as a possible labour candidate for Mayor of London, and the grizzly entrepreneur is up for the challenge.

The world's first Tibetan consumer brand?

By Matthew Rock - June 26, 2008 4:41pm GMT

Bizarre.

Elnaugh Vs. Paphitis. The Dragons are at war

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - June 26, 2008 2:45pm GMT

When Theo Paphitis suggested all women’s brains “turn to mush” when they get pregnant, fellow Dragon Rachel Elnaugh, entrepreneur and mother-of-five, breathed fire and brimstone.

I’m so excited. And I just can’t hide it.

By Rebecca Burn-Callander - June 25, 2008 11:09am GMT

Anyone else gearing up to go wild over the new domain name changes? No? Just think of the wit, variety and confusion it will bring to the world wide web.

Business Comment 

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