1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160 
Factors to remember
Page 39
If you've noticed an error in this article please click here to report it so we can fix it.
0 verail margins in the road transport industry have been sustained.They may not be spectacular hut neither have they been erodedat least when it comes to the successful firms. And for an industry synonymous with debt, an astonishing 38% of this sector is debt-free. The amount of work available to road transport is unlikely to contract next year.Those serving weaker sectors such as manufacturing may need to diversify but that's nothing new. Above all, protect your cashflow; work out your sales-per-employee ratio and your costs daily; and have a realistic grasp of your return on investment against interest rates.
Listen to your fears once, then shelve them. Fear has been described as a great guard dog hut a very poor guide.
High interest rates make many firms' return on investment (ROI) look poor. On the other hand, many of the top 2,000 companies deduct very large directors' fees from their bottom lines, making them rather more profitable than they appear on paper. Work out your sums for the taxman however you please, but don't let a fictional 1-2% margin deter you from using all that extra cash to push the business through the next year.