The Plimsoll Report

The year, 2006 has been a difficult one for many businesses and those in the Laundry and Drycleaning sector are no exception, says David Pattison, senior analyst at Plimsoll Publishing.

“ It seems inevitable that we will see a period of consolidation in this industry as larger predators seek out profitable acquisitions.

“ However, it’s not always a case of larger companies buying out their smaller counterparts....... Rather, we are likely to see a period of intense competition between the largest in the market."

The Plimsoll Portfolio Analysis, to give the report its full name, aims to assess the financial strength of the principal companies in specific industries.

It should interest operators wanting to assess the competition, those wanting to assess a market, and suppliers wanting to assess the viability of a customer or prospective customer.

One of its strengths is that research is ongoing, with updates to the report every two weeks to include the information from the latest reports filed at Companies House. Copies are printed to order and reports are virtually published in real time.

As LCN goes to press, the latest report on the UK laundry and drycleaning industry (September) provides individual reports on 710 companies from the laundry, drycleaning and launderette sectors. All file at Companies” House and Plimsoll estimates that this financial analysis, based on the data filed, covers over 90% of the industry.

In the introductory section, ond of the most valuable chapters, and says the publisher a crucial part of the report, though not made available to the press, is the section on Best Trading Partners, those companies that are low risk financially and that in Plimsoll’s analysis should be actively sought as business partners. To be named here is a true indication of financial strength

The other introductory sectors are more general, and include overviews on sales and market and profitability, illustrated with charts.

But it is the individual company analyses that are at the heart of the book, and along with the trading partners section, probably one of the main reasons for purchasing.

The analyses are based on the Plimsoll model. This is a method of showing visually a company’s strengths and weaknesses and is intended to alert managers to important changes, and to act as a guide in a quick assessment, before more thorough investigations are made. A detailed explanation of the model is given in the report.

Each analysis includes charts for the criteria against which the company’s financial situation is judged. These criteria are: sales growth, trading stability, profitability, working capital, gearing, and immediate liquidity.

The final chart gives a visual summary analysis ofthe financial health. A recent feature has been the addition of a summary paragraph, to complement the charts, again making the report user friendly.

The report currently groups together three sectors, laundries, drycleaners and launderettes which have greatly different characteristics. LCN put this to the publisher as a possible area for change to make the report even more valuable.

The response was that this was a valid point. The possibility of producing a separate report for each sector would be looked at for the future.. In the earlier years. it was , says Plimsoll’s editor difficult to separate the three types of activities but technological advances have made this more feasible.