Issue 21 - Autumn 2024

Tom Guthrie on The Red Sofa

Interviewer: Good morning and welcome to the red sofa. Today we have the pleasure of welcoming Tom Guthrie from BRI, who supports businesses who experience financial difficulties.

Good morning, Tom.

Tom: Good morning. Thank you for having me on the famous red sofa, Tom.

Interviewer: Please give us a bit of background to BRI.

Tom: So BRI is a long established firm which is considered to be a trusted adviser locally who specialises in business recovery and insolvency. We’ve got multiple offices across the country with experienced, qualified individuals within those offices that are there to support our firm ethos of helping clients, giving them the right advice first time and every time.

Interviewer: What does BRI do to best help their client? And would you always look first in support in businesses to recover?

Tom: Yeah, I think the key word there is help. We’re certainly motivated when dealing with clients that are in financial difficulties to help and support them in their situation, and often the best way to help a company or individuals that are experiencing these challenging times is to look at whether there’s options there for them to recover.

As an insolvency practitioner, we have multiple options available to us and we look to apply those skills, those tools that we have to find ways to recover a business in the first instance. The reason for that is that if we’re able to recover, that is in the interest of the directors, the employees, the creditors, the landlords, the shareholders, and it’s a much better outcome for those people than if the alternative where a company has to cease to trade.

Interviewer: What would a typical scenario or scenarios be of a client needing to come to you for support?

Tom: There isn’t really a typical scenario. I’m a bit like a problem tray for most people in the sense that they don’t know where it fits, but there’s a problem. Typically the business, the industry can range from a circus, to a corner shop, to a global international distribution business. And what we typically have to do is work out what was the problem and what’s caused them to have to come and think they need professional advice. And then once we get to the bottom of that, we can then provide them the correct support.

Interviewer: While BRI looks at services from a business point of view, at the end of the day, you are dealing with people who have most likely been going through a hard time leading up to the initial being in contact with you. If insolvency was the only way forward, how does BRI support their clients through this?

Tom: Yeah, and I think the question with reference to people is critical. You know, we’re in a job, we come in every day we offer a service, but ultimately we’re dealing with humans and individuals who have their own emotional aspects to it. No one gets into business thinking they’re going to end up having to talk to someone like myself.

You know, you’ve got the best dreams for where this product or service could go, and no one, directors, individuals have the knowledge of what insolvency looks like. So we come along and help those people, guide them step by step, have those difficult conversations and if then it transpires that the insolvency is unfortunately the only route for them remaining, we will walk them through that.

We will tell them the consequences of insolvency. And me and my team, that we’ve got that supports me, are there to guide them and those are impacted by it. It’s not just the directors, but the creditors, suppliers that are also impacted, and we’re there to communicate to them.

Interviewer: What advice would you give to the businesses if they find themselves struggling with finances and paying off bills? Are there any early warning signs or support that may help them mitigate?

Tom: I think when someone’s noticing that they don’t have the money in the bank account to pay those bills, it’s quite daunting. And my style, and there’s various different styles insolvency practitioners have, but my style is to be open to almost show your position to the supplier, because I find generally from experience, that by talking, communicating with those suppliers that put pressure on you for payment, once you’ve explained the situation, they’re actually more willing to give you a bit of time. And that’s why we’re able to recover quite a few businesses by taking that approach, rather than going into the more formal style of insolvency.

And I think, generally speaking, the people that are asking for payment welcome that transparency. But I also recognise there are people that are reluctant to do that because there’s people out there that once you show your cards, will take advantage of it. But we’re there to make sure that you’re presented in a professional way in that scenario. And then when you come to reference this, warning signs can vary, but the reality is, if you’re struggling to make payment, there’s a warning sign to the business. If your customers are slow in making you payments, that’s a warning sign that you should be perhaps talking to your accountant, getting their support, reviewing your cash flows, because key customers are not paying on time or services have been delayed. Even in this day and age, social media, the source of that, can have on what might be going on with your industry or your customer base or your suppliers, that is actually quite a good bit of information.

Interviewer: Thank you for your time today, Tom.

That’s Tom from BRI. Thank you very much.

Tom: Thank you for having me.

Watch the full interview here