Thursday 17th March 2005
Chris Rayner
An entrepreneur’s diary
Mixed reaction
The SFLGS has enjoyed a mixed press to date, with many detractors drawing attention to difficulties applicants have experienced in actually gaining a loan. Various measures have recently been put in place with a view to making the process easier, though, and for Eagle, things ran relatively smoothly – one initial setback relating to financial forecasts aside. ‘With our first application, our banker, Barclays, felt that our earning projections were too high,’ Rayner acknowledges. Following some changes, the company’s application was approved in early February – with Eagle gaining ‘a six-figure sum’ to help finance its expansion plans. A further tranche of cash will be made available depending on performance further down the line. That said, Rayner isn’t quite ready to dismiss the VCs. ‘We are still [looking at venture capital] as some of the potential acquisitions we are considering are multi-million deals so they would appeal to them.’ The path to expansion
The cash raised via the SFLGS will be used to fund Eagle’s ambitious expansion plans. ‘We’ve identified areas we’d like to go into and it’s just a question of getting there. So far we’ve hired one business development and one sales manager – we’re now looking for someone else to focus on more business opportunities,’ Rayner explains. One of the more obvious opportunities for Eagle to exploit relates to the provision of services. Distribution remains the prominent division but, Rayner admits, ‘we can add value to this through things like next-day delivery.’ In addition to this, the company’s other two divisions – Eagle Bureau and Eagle Service & Repairs – also afford an opportunity to generate higher margins and raise the corporate profile. Service & Repairs achieves this by attempting to offer a more thorough service than the individual printer manufacturers. Bureau, meanwhile, primarily allows clients that are too small to acquire their own machines to outsource their printing needs to Eagle. Outsourcing is not confined solely to the smaller firms either. ‘We have produced cards for the RAC, Vodafone, Blockbusters and many more… and have also conducted some consultancy work for Transport for London and various Government departments,’ Rayner elaborates.
ID is the key
Perhaps most exciting of all, however, is the company’s plan to launch a nationwide young person’s ID card, a scheme that – should it take off – would represent a significant PR coup for a business of Eagle’s size.Though the Government’s plan to introduce compulsory ID cards has met stiff resistance, Rayner has high hopes for Eagle’s project. This is because the scheme would be run on a voluntary basis, with interested children and teenagers applying online. Moreover, Eagle’s plan is that these cards would contain a smart chip containing information relating to a child’s specific medical problems and allergies and providing emergency contact information. It is easy to see parents welcoming the scheme, so the challenge for Eagle will be to convince children and teenagers of its merits too. A local launch in Berkshire is planned for the autumn and ‘if all goes well,’ says Rayner, ‘we’ll try and take it nationwide in 2006 and we are now looking for a national sponsor.’
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