Q.

Who are Gilbran, as I've not heard the name before?

Gilbran was established in 1996 to provide the automotive industry with property solutions.

These solutions enable Manufacturers and Franchisees to optimise their sales and servicing networks by being in the right location with the most cost effective facilities.

Gilbran has invested over £80 million of its own capital into dealership and distribution facilities for its clients in the UK alone. We opened offices in Germany in 2005.

Yes

The automotive industry generally, and in particular the relationship between Manufacturer and Franchisee, is often complicated.

By focusing exclusively on the automotive industry, Gilbran are able to understand the issues faced by the relevant parties better than anyone else offering real estate solutions.

No.

We work with Manufacturers and larger Franchised Groups but believe that we offer most to small dealer groups and single site operations because of our understanding of the industry.

Our approach should allow even the smallest businesses to operate alongside and compete with the larger and more highly capitalised groups.

Your business goals involve real estate. Gilbran offer bespoke property solutions that can suit and support your business through our development and sale and leaseback activities.

We can offer bespoke leasing terms with predictable rental increases throughout the term and the ability to include a break clause in the lease. We also offer Joint venture arrangements where there is a sharing of the capital growth in the property.

If capital is limited, or is earning a greater rate of return in your operational business, Gilbran will provide the property in order that you are able to focus your resources on expansion and improvement of that operational business.

Through a bespoke lease you can retain control of the site for your dealership operations in much the same way you would as a freeholder without the capital commitment.

This does not have to be the case. We want our clients to have a degree of budget certainty going forward and there are a number of ways to achieve this.

Linking the rental increases to RPI, with a cap and a floor, is a popular method of avoiding uncertainty through the term of the lease.

Yes. This is a common situation but we believe by acting now with the right real estate partner, the benefits will be significant for both the Franchisee and the Manufacturer.

The option is to do nothing and wait until another Franchisee offers a better facility than your own or, perhaps worse still, another rival Manufacturer secures the site instead

The automotive industry is in a constant state of change and we hope to be able to help you to embrace that change and make it work for you.

We will look at all available sites and consider a mixed-use opportunities enabling us to defray your cost base whilst satisfying manufacturer standards.

You are in charge. It is your business that we are serving.