Price is not set by what you put in,
but by what the company earns without you.
A buyer works out how many years it takes to recover the purchase and what is left of the profit once you step out of daily operations. A figure pulled from memory is knocked down by the first serious analysis, and negotiation starts below zero.
Two customers carry 40% of revenue and the owner runs both personally. Without an agreed transition period, the buyer prices the lower bound.
Extract from a real valuation. Company data altered.
What you receive
A document written for someone looking for a reason to cut the price. The buyer, their accountant and their bank will all examine the same places, so we address them in advance.
- 01Normalised profit. One-off and personal items stripped out of the result, with reasoning for each
- 02A range, not a single figure. Lower and upper bounds, with an explanation of what moves value in which direction
- 03More than one method. Valuation on earnings and on assets, with reasoning on which is more appropriate here and why
- 04Owner dependency. How much value walks out with you — the most common reason for a price cut in the final round
- 05Customer concentration. How much revenue hangs on a handful of names, and what that costs in the price
- 06What to fix before selling. Specific items that lift value over the next six to twelve months
What this is not. It is not a court-appointed expert valuation, nor a valuation for tax or litigation purposes. It is an analytical valuation for negotiation and business decisions. If you need a report for a court or a tax authority, you need a licensed valuer, and we will tell you that straight away, before you pay anything.
When this is worth doing
You are selling the company
So you enter negotiation with a reasoned price rather than a hope, and know in advance where the buyer will try to push it down.
You are buying a company or a stake
To check whether the asking price is supported by the results, and how much of that profit survives the owner's departure.
You are separating from a partner
So the buyout has an independent basis rather than a figure produced by one side.
A new partner is coming in
So the contribution and the ownership split rest on numbers both sides can verify.
You plan to exit in a few years
To see early what is dragging value down, while there is still time to fix it.
Transfer to family members
So the handover rests on a reasoned financial basis rather than an understanding that turns contentious later.
What you send us
A signed NDA
We send it before you share any data that is not publicly available.
Three years of financial statements
Plus a current trial balance if more than six months have passed since the last annual accounts.
A list of one-off and personal items
Everything that ran through the company but is not part of ordinary trading. This moves the final figure more than anything else, and usually upward.
A description of the business
Key customers and their share of revenue, contracts, staff, assets, and what role you personally play day to day.
Send a request
Send the registration number and the reason for the valuation. We reply by email confirming scope, price and deadline before anyone sends anything.
Confidentiality
Data is processed solely to produce the valuation, deleted after delivery, and never passed to third parties.
Independence
We do not broker company sales and take no commission on a transaction. The valuation does not depend on whether you sell.