INVESTORS have been urged by a Baildon-based entrepreneur to ‘show their bottle’ in the face of falling business confidence due to global economic and political uncertainty.

James Waterhouse, director of dealconnections - a portal providing details of more than 90 per cent of businesses for sale in the UK - said investors should not be put off by short-term issues.

He said the buoyant mergers and acquisitions market offered investors opportunities to acquire less stable businesses, along with their market share, to create businesses with greatly increased income and a highly leveraged cost base.

Mr Waterhouse said dealconnections saw nearly 100 new mandates hit the market in one week recently and a total of £1.5 billion of acquisition funds were made available in the last three months across the ten most active business sectors. Deal activity this autumn was the busiest since 2009.

He said: “The number of distressed businesses coming to market is one sector that is extremely active right now. For businesses with the money and the bottle to take them on, these can represent hugely valuable investments paying back in the short- to medium- term.”

His business includes feeds from accountants, solicitors, insolvency practitioners and corporate finance teams to provide a searchable source of business for sale information.