12 Jan 2016 Expansion

Robinson Sewell Partners is growing.

With the commencement of 2016, Robinson Sewell Partners welcomed Michael Stout to the team to bring his expertise in business advisory and financial analysis into the mix.

At Robinson Sewell Partners, Michael will be working with clients focusing on a number of strategies, one of which is depreciation schedules. He says this is a major component to decreasing expenses within a farming business.

“One thing that’s often missed these days is depreciation schedules when farmers buy or have a property transferred into their name (succession).  They’d be surprised at how many infrastructure assets there are and what kind of tax deductions are available to them as a non-cash item.”

Another specialty area of Michael’s is providing the right kind of equipment finance specific to the business that will help to decrease costs and match cash flows. Here, Michael details the specific characteristics around the options that are available in funding equipment acquisitions.

Michael also offers client support where he acts as the congruent between the client and the bank.

“Client support is important in assisting with any inquiries clients may have which may include annual reviews and any ancillary funding needs. Being that first point of contact that clients can reach out to on a consistent basis as well as operating outside normal operating hours. When its harvest time and the client isn’t able to find the time to talk to the bank, we can step in and perform the functionality around the funding request.”

In recent years, Michael has worked in business advisory where business owners were looking to materially increase their profitability. Michaels says decreasing expenses is a big focus point.

“A business cash flow may look like a bucket with holes in the bottom. My job is to go into the business and fill in the holes on a permanent basis.  Increasing sales and gross margin and decreasing the costs of the business is the end game.”

“One example of not being resource efficient is when a business owner was spending a lot of his day straining fences and repairing yards. Realistically, he could be using his skills in other areas of the business to increase material value like marketing and strategic enterprise analysis whilst hiring someone else to complete the more menial tasks.”

By implementing these strategies Michael was able to increase the revenue of a poorly performing business by 300% – a significant increase.

Michael is a born and bred Riverina local, hailing from his family’s farm near Ardlethan in the Riverina. He is a qualified agronomist and now lives in Wagga Wagga with his wife and three kids.

Michael will be a great asset to the team and brings with him years of experience as well as his love for agriculture.