Whether your about to sell your business, or beginning to plan your exit strategy you need to have a sound idea of what it’s worth.
If you’re selling your business you need to have a good idea of its value before you embark on a sale process. And then you’re more likely to get an offer that’s acceptable. If you’re not ready to sell an insightful valuation will give you the tools you need to plan your exit and work on the business meantime to make sure you maximise value later.
Unrealistic valuation expectations going into a sale process are a common reason why some businesses fail to sell. Beware of business brokers who may tell you want to hear about your businesses valuation in order to secure a lucrative business sale assignment. Instead you need a valuer with sound commercial insight who’ll tell you the unvarnished truth. Only that way can you make good decisions.
Valuation and price are not necessarily the same thing. A business valuer must give an opinion based on there being a hypothetical willing and able buyer and a willing and able seller, acting at arm’s-length in an open and unrestricted market, when neither is under compulsion to buy or sell. So a business valuation doesn’t take account of a special buyer. But when you come to sell you will be looking for that special strategic buyer which is the best home for your business and will be motivated to pay the best price. That motivation comes from a good sales process, read about that on our main website.
We’re M&A advisers as well as business valuers. And we’ve helped many business owners with their exit planning and business grooming, and with selling their business when the time comes. This means that we can give you a truly savvy commercial view on your business. We support this using extensive databases which we use in our M&A work, and informed by our direct experience of how buyers view businesses. Our reports are detailed, so you can see and understand which will drive the value of your business. And if you want we’ll give you a view on what strategic premium over and above its basic valuation your business might command in a sale.
Are you a business owner with questions about valuing a business? Get in touch for an informal chat – every call is treated as confidential and there are no obligations attached. We’re here to be helpful.