Business Valuation
Helping you to understand what your business is worth.
At some stage in the life of a business, the question will be asked “what’s this business worth?”
There is any number of reasons why a valuation is required, including:
- Buying or selling a business
- Preparing the business for sale
- Raising finance or equity
- Retirement or exit planning
- Tax planning
- Keyman insurance or shareholder protection
- Inheritance planning
- To buy out partners or minority shareholders
- Motivating management or key employees for greater success and growth
- Creating share options for valuable employees
- Raising finance
- Creating a Business Plan
The valuing of a business is a complex matter requiring a thorough understanding of the business, its background and structure, trading prospects and the reason for the valuation. The value can be influenced by several factors, not all of them immediately obvious or necessarily easily quantified.
The main objective of any business valuation exercise is to provide a guide to the commercial value (‘fair value’) of a business as a starting point for discussions. A commercial value of any asset seeks to arrive at a fair value for both the purchaser and the seller.
However, regardless of the reason for the valuation, a business is only worth what somebody is willing to pay for it and it is the outcome of negotiation between a willing buyer and a willing seller that ultimately determines the market value. This is therefore to value to which the expert is seeking to guide their client.
As such, it is important to engage an experienced valuer who can identify all the key factors, both financial and operational and take proper account of these in producing a robust, credible valuation, reflecting the likely outcome of those negotiations between the willing buyer and willing seller.
Most valuations form part of an ongoing project such as a sale or purchase, transfer to the next generation, building a strategy for future growth or the resolution of a dispute of some sort. We have the expertise and can offer support in all these areas.
