Dragon's Den - Anybody know that Solar guy?

[papa-golf]

Hi,

I saw the program on rewind.
I would have given him the full amount £120k for a 22% stake in his business, I know the numbers involved in solar/fit tariff and it would be a very worthwhile investment.
We are a very well established energy company based in the North East, Cumbria and Lancs' and are looking for a partner company that has already gone through the MCS approval process?

So if, anyone, or any MSC registered companies are out there and are looking to become part of a 'Newco' then please contact me?

Regards

Papa-Golf

 

[SRE]

I'd be a bit concerned about going in to business with you if you didn't understand how far out his figures were. How can you possibly value a business at 10% of it's turnover???

 

[papa-golf]

Hello CRE,

I am well 'versed' on the valuation of the company and Companies and I also fully understand how the 'FIT' tariff works and the potential of this market sector.
The guy on 'DD' was desperate for marketing help and did not know how to 'scale up' his business up.
His projected £9M turnover (900 PV systems) at around a 20% net profitability seems a good investment deal to me for a £120k.(22%) (ROI £396k within 1 year) If he's watching I'm interested!

We will achieve similar numbers very quickly.

Regards


Papa-Golf

 

[SRE]

:lol: Glad you understand the FiT.

I think you'll find that he understood marketing very well - that's why he was on Dragon's Den and your failure to grasp the basics of the financial side of solar pv are, to be kind, a little naive. No wonder you're looking for someone who has already done the blood sweat and tears of MCS certification.

Let me guess, you sell double glazing or cavity and loft insulation. I had someone similar offering to sell me leads for £150 about a month ago - he had a similar grasp of the pv market as you appear to have.

Why not learn the process yourself instead of riding on the back of everyone else's hard work.

 

[whlphil]

Seems youve all missed the reason Chris was on there - FREE SOLAR!

The best way to make a lot of money in solar is to provide free solar, only thing is you need A LOT OF MONEY and thats difficult to get. Respect to Chris but he is not going to walk into a private equity bank and get £30m to provide a free scheme. Youve got to be a money man or know the right people, Ive been at the raising money thing for 12 months and whilst im close ive been stuck at this point for 6 months its bloody hard work.

The only thing he was after was the Dragons backing to get through the right doors and have the credibility behind him. I think it wasnt a bad move offering what he did as retaining 75% of £20m T/O business is better than 100% of a £2m company.

I'm surprised non of the Dragons or any of you lot picked up on the glaring stretching of the truth.. flamefix and SRE nearly got it! 5,000 installs at £10k is £50m but his T/O was only I think £1.8m - £2.5m then £5m and I know the large chunk of the £1.8m was when he ran the company as a tiling company. It doesnt add up! cant believe the Dragons missed that..

Only way he has done 5,000 is if hes been installing only on a material provided basis in which he will have been looking at all those installs thinking I should be doing this myself.. why arent I doing this myself... I'm going to do this myself. Hence the desire to get someone who can help. Good luck to him hope he can pull it off before the FiT comes crashing down in April!!

 

[Ramjam]

I think he came across badly.

The 5000 installs is simply wrong, if he'd done 5000 installs at an average price of £14k as he claimed then £70m turnover with 20% profit he have £14m in his pocket.

Not being funny but he's on course for £2.5m this year, that's 4 installs a week that's either one of those botch it in crews or two good crews so 10 employees at the most, he's not exactly a PV big daddy, there are bigger firms than that on my local high street.

If you can't present eloquently to 5 people and a camera in a room how do you hope to run 7 regional offices.

Personally I believe that the business will settle very soon and like most trades involving a couple of men in a van using tools that can be easily bought it will be done by local tradesmen serving local people.

Anyone trying to build big empires will come crashing down and I'd advise them to take the money out of the business quickly as they will shrink and die just a quickly as they grow!

 

[simpson93]

just been watching it now them dragons were all over him, he in my opinion as a business man wasnt very good

 

[solarguy]

I have nothing really to add to the discussion apart from sharing my observation that it is truly bizarre to hear someone refer to another human being as a 'Dragon'....

Have you seen the new one?

Hilary Cruella Deville - imagine having to go into work and look at that bloody face - It would put me off my cornflakes lol

 

[papa-golf]

Hi Whiphill,

We are very close to offering 'free solar' and your right the
journey is long and arduous.
We worked hard and found very good partners following on
from many presentations in the capital. Our first round will be around 900 free systems, circa 9m, which the SPV that is set up needs cash assets of 25%. This is the major stumbling
block for most!

Good Luck!

 

[PJC]

Hi Whiphill,

We are very close to offering 'free solar' and your right the
journey is long and arduous.
We worked hard and found very good partners following on
from many presentations in the capital. Our first round will be around 900 free systems, circa 9m, which the SPV that is set up needs cash assets of 25%. This is the major stumbling
block for most!

Good Luck!

Hello papa-golf, tell me more?

 

[whlphil]

Hi Whiphill,

We are very close to offering 'free solar' and your right the
journey is long and arduous.
We worked hard and found very good partners following on
from many presentations in the capital. Our first round will be around 900 free systems, circa 9m, which the SPV that is set up needs cash assets of 25%. This is the major stumbling
block for most!

Good Luck!

I originally set off going down that route but for the 5Mw farms, had 20Mw signed that promptly evaporated over night, have gone back to rooftops as was the original intention but only commercial, wouldn't really recommend it as a route as it takes so long with leases, board approval, planning and DNO to contend with but it suits the rest of the companies market position. Seems that about £7m is the right size for DD but again commercial leases arent easy for DD, just in the last couple of weeks tho I've seen a marked shift in the attitude of the banks with some now lending at 100% if you've got good LTV for the end clients

 

[DickiePhitt]

Well, Ploughcroft are doing an installation on my roof as I write this.
I'm a retired engineer and went into the technicalities, with a lot of help from posts from here, to generate a load of detailed questions. Their technical director answered all my questions spot on and showed me their impressive training centre. They got the job on that basis as they alone seemed to have the knowledge, out of the several companies I approached, and were cheaper than most quotes I got.
I'll let you know how it goes.

 

[SRE]

Well, Ploughcroft are doing an installation on my roof as I write this.
I'm a retired engineer and went into the technicalities, with a lot of help from posts from here, to generate a load of detailed questions. Their technical director answered all my questions spot on and showed me their impressive training centre. They got the job on that basis as they alone seemed to have the knowledge, out of the several companies I approached, and were cheaper than most quotes I got.
I'll let you know how it goes.

Good luck - make sure they fit the panels 300mm from the ridge, a number of Ploughcroft installations in our area haven't been - despite their impressive training centre. At least if you know now about it you can catch them before they finish.